5.3 | Project Development

5.3 | Project Development

seemingly cost-effective or environmentally sustainable solutions are judged as inappropriate.

As the scheme advances through the project lifecycle, the sponsoring agency will be required to revise and update these assessments in light of new information and analysis so that the evidence used to identify the preferred option includes the strategic fit with NIFTI and the NPF.

The latest version of the Public Spending Code was published in December 2019. It sets out the value for money requirements for the evaluation, planning and management of public investment projects in Ireland. This includes the overall project development lifecycle, roles and responsibilities, approval and governance, and the tasks, processes and products that must be undertaken and delivered for a potential project to be approved to proceed to the next stage of the project lifecycle and, ultimately, to implementation.

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Implementation Action

Sponsoring agencies will be required to demonstrate project alignment with NIFTI within Strategic Assessment Reports to proceed to the Preliminary Business Case stage. This analysis will be revised and updated throughout the project and programme lifecycles.

Schemes that are identified as priorities within strategic plans may be given approval to proceed to the first stage of project development, the Strategic Assessment Stage. At this stage, scheme sponsors are required to set out the strategic case for projects. This includes the need for the scheme, the scheme objectives, and its alignment with policy. This information is brought together in a Strategic Assessment Report, alongside the preliminary identification of options and costs and an appraisal plan. To be approved to proceed to the next phases of project development, Strategic Assessment Reports will have to demonstrate that the scheme aligns with NIFTI and, by extension, the NPF more generally.