Sport NI's project management and oversight of the St Colman's project

Report to the Northern Ireland Assembly by the Comptroller and Auditor General

A Report published by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Kieran Donnelly, examines Sport NI’s project management and oversight of a project to develop sporting facilities at St Colman’s College, Newry. Mr Donnelly said: The St Colman’s project is widely regarded as a unique and innovative project which has resulted in a school opening up its sporting facilities for the benefit of the wider community. This type of innovation presents an opportunity for the public sector to develop public services in a cost effective way and should be encouraged however, it is essential that any project in receipt of government funding is based on a valid and accurate business case and that it receives the appropriate level of project management and oversight. There are important lessons that can be learned from the St Colman’s case and they should be applied across the public sector.”

Background

Sport NI is a non-Departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (the Department) which has responsibility for the development of sport in Northern Ireland.  In July 2010 Sport NI approved an investment of £1.4 million in a £2.4 million project to develop Sports facilities at St Colman’s College, Newry.  There was a further £0.9 million public investment from Newry and Mourne District Council and the Department for Social Development.  The facilities at St Colman’s College opened in November 2011.

In December 2011 a journalist contacted Sport NI to raise concerns regarding the accuracy of statements made within the business case for the project. The journalist was not satisfied with Sport NI’s response and contacted the Northern Ireland Audit Office in January 2012.

Main Findings

The business case underestimated the cost of the project. In order to address the issues that this created for the affordability of the project, a number of significant changes were made to the project specification including the reduction from an 8 to 6 lane running track and the removal of the synthetic high jump ‘D’1. The removal of the high jump ‘D’ created a cost saving of £11,000 but was later reinstated at a cost of £113,000. The business case was not revisited and Sport NI did not notify the Department or the other funders of the changes made to the specification.

The business case contained a number of erroneous statements which, cumulatively, may have impacted on the decision for Sport NI to award funding to the St Colman’s project.

There was a lack of communication between funders and, as a result, a number of key decisions were made without any consultation.

Project roles were not formally documented until two months after the construction phase had begun.

In response to the allegations made by the journalist, Sport NI conducted 3 separate investigations all of which, in essence, concluded that the reporter’s concerns could not be substantiated. The Northern Ireland Audit Office was, however, unable to validate the conclusions reached by Sport NI’s investigations and the journalist’s concerns can, to a large extent, be substantiated.

(A synthetic ‘D’ is the area inside the track which is used for the run up to the high jump.)