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2.7 Deputy G.C.L Baudains of St. Clement of the Minister for Education, Sport and Culture regarding the refurbishment of Le Squez Youth Club: Would the Minister advise Ministers whether the refurbishment of Le Squez Youth Club went over budget and if so by how much and for what reasons? And would he also state whether the club's management committee was informed before the work started.
Senator M.E. Vibert (The Minister for Education, Sport and Culture):
The latest stage of the refurbishment of Le Squez Youth Club was recently completed, the exact cost of which is yet to be finalised. This refurbishment was originally costed at just over £71,000, which was considered to be too expensive, so changes were made to the specification to produce a revised cost estimate of just over £48,500. Four tenders were received for the work, the lowest of which was just over £52,000. Some invoices are still being awaited but the final cost is estimated to be in the region of £54,000, to take into account some changes made to the original specification and additional work found to be needed. The other additional cost to be finalised is the professional fees, which are expected to be in the region of £4,000. I am informed the Chairman of Le Squez Youth Club Management Committee was informed by email on 19th May of the proposed timetable for the work, with construction scheduled to start on 26th June, so that the work could be finished by September 2006. Otherwise it would have had to be delayed until spring 2007. The youth officer attended the Le Squez Management Committee Meeting on Monday 10th July to inform the management committee about the work and to ask if they would contribute £5,000 to the cost, which the management committee agreed to.
2.7.1 Deputy G.C.L. Baudains:
Does the Minister not consider it unusual that the provisional costings were done by a professional organisation and yet the lowest tender came in at approximately 20 per cent above that and the highest tender something like 100 per cent over that. Would he comment on that and would he also explain why his department only required tenders for the plumbers and electricians from 2 separate firms. Why were there only 2 firms?
Senator M.E. Vibert :
I do not feel I am professionally competent to comment on the quality of the tendering done by the professional quantity surveyor and that would have to be taken up with the employer in that area. As for the other part: we operate on a tender list supplied to us from Transport and Technical Services, or it might be Property Services - I am not sure if it has been moved over or not - but we operate on the list supplied to us.