Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Colin Murphy, today announced that he had dismissed the Chairman and a number of non-executive Directors of the Board of NI Water (NIW).
The dismissals came after the publication of a recently completed Review of Procurement Governance. This identified that there had been a serious breakdown in the governance and control framework of NIW in relation to contract approvals. In particular a number of contracts each worth over £250k had been let with out shareholder (Government) or NI Water’s Board approval. There was also a breakdown in the relationship between the CEO and Chairman.
In hindsight these problems may have been an inevitable consequence of the political chaos and lack of a clear strategy purpose for Northern Ireland Water.
When Northern Ireland Water was formed in 2007 it had been expected that it would be funded through the introduction of water charges. It let, for example, a contract to build a new customer billing and contact centre. When the politicians lost their nerve this had to be cancelled. This meant that NIW could no longer be a Government Company (GoCo) but instead became a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB). This resulted in increased public accountability and a very complex goverance model that is a half-way house between GoCo and NDPB.
There is no doubt that the confusion in identity and strategic purpose combined with the excessively complex business operating context were major factors in the chaos that is now evident. There is an important lesson here.
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