Contractors To Repay NIHE Almost £700k

A settlement has been reached with three companies who were overpayed almost £700,000 on planned maintenance contracts with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE).

Bann Ltd., PK Murphy Construction and Mascott Construction have accepted there were "significant overpayments" on a number of projects completed during the early years of the contracts, but said that the initial estimation by the Housing Executive was too high.

The Housing Executive accepted that Dixons Contractors had not been overpaid, despite initial allegations.

The three contractors have agreed to pay a sum of £670,000 to the Housing Executive for the overpayments.

NIHE Chairman Donald Hoodless said: "The Board is pleased that an agreement with four planned maintenance contractors relating to payments has been reached and that this settlement has also been approved by the Department for Social Development and Department of Finance and Personnel.

"The Board is confident that there will be no repetition of these failings as new rigorous procedures have been put in place to ensure that value for money is achieved with regard to maintenance contracts.

"The organisation became aware of concerns about suspected overpayments in 2010. These were reported to the Board in September 2011 which directed that the concerns warranted a full investigation. In May of last year the Housing Executive Board was advised that the investigations had revealed an estimated overpayment of £18 million for planned maintenance. Further work was done to refine this estimate and also to recognise the contractors’ entitlements.

"As a result of this negotiated settlement, three of the four contractors have accepted that there were significant overpayments on a number of projects completed during the early years of the contracts but not to the level initially estimated by the Housing Executive."

(IT/CD)