Research consultancy services

National Consumer Agency

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority: The Construction Industry & the Consumer in Ireland. The present study was previously advertised on the eTenders Public Procurement website for Irish public tenders, but no contract has been awarded. It has now been identified that the present contract should most properly be advertised in the Official Journal. Minor changes have been made to the original Terms of Reference (see ITT document) with the purpose of further clarifying the requirements of the contracting authority. Interested parties are invited to examine the Invitation to Tender document closely. Please contact Maria Hurley on 00 353 86 8103933 or on maria_hurley@nca.ie to discuss the Invitation to Tender or to clarify any queries. Given the costs to the consumer of purchasing, building or renovating a property in Ireland, the National Consumer Agency wishes to contract an in depth assessment of the construction sector in Ireland, to evaluate it from a consumer perspective and to present findings and conclusions as regards its relative strengths, weaknesses and areas for improvement. The outputs of this study will provide an overview of the sector from a consumer perspective, highlight issues of consumer detriment in which the National Consumer Agency may wish to intervene in defence of consumer rights and, where relevant, pinpoint areas for change. The primary objectives of the research are to: · Examine, document and evaluate the relationship between the construction industry and the consumer as a whole and to identify areas (if any) where that relationship results in consumer detriment. · Establish metrics to quantify the level of such detriment, in each instance. Financial measures of associated detriment are preferred, however, it is recognised that this may not be possible in each case. In such instances, proxy metrics are required. · Propose solutions or remedial measures required in each case. All proposed actions should be attached to executing bodies and categorised on a graduated scale of importance. The present study is focused specifically on the construction sector in Ireland and all analysis and recommendations must be specific to this market. An in-depth understanding of the dynamic of the Irish construction sector is therefore essential in conducting this research, as is a clear insight into topical consumer issues in Ireland. The contracting authority expects international benchmarking or comparison to be used in appropriate parts of the research methodology, but all findings, conclusions and recommendations must be specific to the particular circumstances of this sector, and of the consumer environment, in Ireland. Further information and additional documentation relating to this notice may be available on the eTenders Web Site at http://www.etenders.gov.ie/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=52993. The awarding authority has indicated that it will accept electronic responses to this notice via a 'Tender Submission Postbox' facility. Further details of this facility are available at http://www.etenders.gov.ie/PostBox/Postbox_Explain.aspx?ID=52993.

The time limit for receipt of tenders was 2007-08-27. The procurement was published on 2007-07-20.

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