Children’s Hospital contractor requested additional claims totaling ‘more than 200 million euros’, TDs said

Updated 16 minutes ago

BAM, THE PRIMARY contractor that builds the new National Children’s Hospital, has filed claims for cost overruns that exceed 200 million euros, as reported today by the Oireachtas Health Committee.

The director of the National Pediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB), David Gunning, said that this amount was related to “more than 600 claims,” ​​but that the board was defending these claims.

“Where we feel that there is no right, we are using all the mechanisms available in the contract to defend these claims and protect the public purse,” he said.

TDs and senators were briefed on the status of the massive project today and heard that the project was delayed again.

The competition date scheduled for the project was originally set for August 2022 and was delayed six months before Covid-19.

Gunning said there were seven weeks that the Covid-19 restrictions stopped working and another seven weeks later that BAM did not return to the site.

He said this gives a “clear indication” of the overall delay in the project, but was reluctant to give an updated completion date and that this was partly because BAM did not provide a work schedule.

Gunning said an updated completion date would be provided early next year.

Driven by a series of TDs, Gunning said the “working assumption” on the end date is the “contract deadlines” and that would remain the case “until such time as we change that schedule.”

“I anticipate that we will be working with the contractor and providing updated guidance to stakeholders as scheduled early next year, that’s the position,” he said.

In response, Social Democrats TD Roisín Shortall said that “the board is delusional”, it is working outside the original date and that this “is not acceptable”.

On the total cost of the project, Gunning said that the NPHDB was working within the budget of 1.43 billion euros, but that there is “considerable pressure” on that estimate.

The project was originally expected to cost € 983 million in 2017, but increased to € 1.4 billion in 2018 and it has been suggested that the total cost may now exceed € 2 billion.

“The approved budget is 1,430 million euros and we are currently operating within this budgetary scope. However, I think it’s fair to say that there are considerable pressures on that particular budget, ”he said.

Gunning went on to say that the main pressure on the budget was due to ongoing delays in the project and that this was “problematic”.