At the direction of ministers, SIB supports departments deliver infrastructure programmes and projects. The type and duration of such support is determined by ministers and is affected by the particular needs of departments and the value that SIB can bring to particular projects.
SIB always works in partnership with its client departments. The nature of these partnerships is defined in Operational Partnering Agreements, which set out in detail the respective roles and responsibilities of each party. This includes a clear definition of the work that SIB will undertake together with the finance, staffing, communications, reporting and other arrangements that will apply.
Staff from SIB have been found to be most useful in complex projects requiring skills and experience not usually found in the public sector. Their involvement is always with the aim of speeding delivery, reducing cost and risk and promoting good practice. Typical roles include:
• acting as interim Director during the early states of a programme;
• advising on the commercial aspects of contracts;
• advising on procurement strategies;
• assisting in the production of business cases;
• advising on the suitability of programmes for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP); and
• developing the market to encourage competition and drive out value for money.
SIB has a budget which it uses to fund specialist consultancy support; for instance legal and technical advisers. This funding can be developed extremely quickly in order to overcome problems as they arise and without the need to go through a complex approval process.
One problem Northern Ireland faces is attracting sufficient numbers of bidders who have the skills, experience and financial resources required to deliver infrastructure projects successfully. Without a developed market the customer finds it impossible to obtain the competitive tension necessary to deliver value for money. Northern Ireland is competing with other market places for high quality bidders who will go elsewhere if they believe the public sector is unable to deliver properly managed projects. SIB has worked to attract the interest of bidders and demonstrate the ability of Northern Ireland to understand and meet their requirements. As a result, the number of high-quality bids has arisen and projects have been able to attract the interest of companies from across Europe. These, in partnership with local firms, have created a dynamic and competitive market.
SIB has a statutory responsibility to support the regeneration of strategic sites (such as those vacated by the Army at the cessation of military assistance to the civil power).