“When the bids are returned at the end of April 2008..”

The Belfast Telegraph’s Noel McAdam reports that the Department of Finance and Personnel have confirmed that Northern Ireland’s biggest ever Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the WorkPlace 2010 plan, will go ahead – now that the legal challenge has been settled.

In a statement last night, the Department of Finance and Personnel made it clear that progress towards the final offer stage in the Workplace 2010 procurement for the Civil Service office estate has not halted.

“On 14 January invitations were issued to Land Securities Trillium and Telereal inviting them to submit their Best and Final Offers for the Workplace 2010 contract. When the bids are returned at the end of April 2008 the Department will begin a process of evaluation with a view to moving towards preferred bidder stage later in the year,” it said.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. As the PFI plan is part of the Capital Realisation project which is, at least in part, funding the budget allocations. Provided the actual realisation matches the predicted one, that is..

Pete Baker