Nine vehicle testing lanes completed five years after a contract was signed to construct them will be ripped out and rebuilt, the Department for Instructure has confirmed.
The testing lanes at the new Hydebank centre were completed in February this year but following checks the contractor was accused by the department of failing to properly install both them and associated equipment.
A deal with Worldwide Environmental Products (WEP), which strongly denies the accusation of shoddy work and has started legal action, was terminated on October 9.
♦Subscriber Exclusive: Ask our tax expert an Autumn Budget question
On the same day, a tender notice was published inviting bidders for a £30m contract to install 79 vehicle testing lanes at centres across the north.
The huge contract, dwarfing the £11m 2019 WEP deal, is for the “installation of new equipment at Hydebank, the new test centre at Mallusk and the future replacement of the equipment in our current network of test centres”.
At present, there are 65 working test lanes in Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVA) centres, the department said.
The department is now seeking a new contractor “to supply, install, commission, calibrate and maintain a total of 79 new vehicle testing lanes of equipment”.
A department spokesperson said: “The procurement provides for the installation of new equipment at Hydebank, the new test centre at Mallusk and the future replacement of the equipment in our current network of test centres.”
A spokesperson for Worldwide Environmental Products said: “We strongly deny and refute the assertions which have been made and we look forward to the facts in this matter being ventilated as part of our legal proceedings which have already commenced.”
The department had previously tried to terminate the contract with WEP but the High Court in 2022 ruled in favour of the California-based company and work continued.
New vehicle testing equipment and associated software at the Hydebank test centre were completed in early February 2024. Checks were then carried out. The DVA then issued a notice of termination to WEP with immediate effect.
“The DVA expects that Worldwide (WEP Inc) will almost certainly refuse to accept the termination as valid. They will likely contend that the DVA was not entitled to terminate and may seek an injunction restraining such termination, as they did previously,” Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd said.
“The DVA expects the tender and evaluation period of the new procurement competition to take three to four months. The award of the contract could be delayed if this is challenged in the courts by Worldwide (WEP Inc).”
In a written briefing to the Assembly he said WEP “failed to property install and commission the equipment in accordance with the contract despite being provided with every opportunity to remedy the myriad of issues which have been identified by the DVA”.
The construction of a second new test centre at Mallusk has started with a hoped for opening date in 2025. When fully operational the two new centres will provide the capacity to test over 200,000 additional vehicles a year, according to the department.
