OPW and projected cost of 442K for Modular Homes

Problem there is that with two contractors, there's always a serious risk of pass the parcel when something goes wrong. And that usually means a trip - or ten - to the Four Courts to decide who is responsible for what.

On the wider issue, I'm really impressed at the number of resident Boards.ie experts who could have built the NCH in six months for half the price if only those darned civil serpents and corrupt politicians (sic) hadn't been involved! Ireland seems to be overflowing with bar stool experts who, for some curious reason, failed to pass the Civil Service recruitment exam!

Nobody has claimed that the NCH could of been done in 6 months. Its doesn't require an expert to point out the fact that the NCH situation is the taxpayer getting f**ked over by lots of sh**heads.

Yeah but: in any normal contract tender situation involving the state, the state sets all of the "conditions & contingencies" as well. The only things the contractor gets up determine are its price, its schedule and perhaps certain costs (e.g. rates in case of prolongation)

This is also necessary so that you can actually reasonably compare different tenders.

In what circumstances do other procurement routes become possible?

Given its deeper pockets - & the fact that the contractor would otherwise have to pay for insurance for it (introducing middle man costs), the state is in a better place to take external risks over which neither party has control.

However the PWC contracts are designed to transfer most risk to the contractor - significantly more than other contract forms used nationally or internationally - to achieve greater cost certainty at the expense of better value for money by appropriate risk transfer.

Appropriate risk transfer to achieve best overall value has little to do with the projects being discussed however: if it did, the cost overruns would be very modest & explained by the state.