NCT due to be tendered again

A second 10-year contract for a single company to run the National Car Testing (NCT) service from 2009 is to be put out to tender shortly by the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

The current contract is held by NCTS Ltd, a subsidiary of the Swedish SGS Group, and the RSA has decided to continue with a single supplier for the service over the next 10-year period.

The total value of the services to be procured for the NCTS contact will be approximately €300 million and will be subject to a European-wide competition.

The RSA board has decided to make a number of amendments to the assessment criteria.

In addition to competitive pricing, the RSA also wants tender bids to be on a quality of service and value for money criteria.

Last year the Competition Authority wrote to the Department of Transport expressing concern at the length of the contract awarded for the provision of national car testing.

Following a review of the service by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Competition Authority is now satisfied that a exclusive contract is the best option.

An Authority spokesman said last night that as long as proper procurement rules were followed there was a justifiable reason for having one provider for this service. Last year, more than 681,799 vehicles were tested and 322,516 were retested in 43 testing centres across the State.

The number of vehicles tested was up almost 9 per cent compared with 2005.

The cost of a test is €49 and a retest costs €27.50, although according to the NCTS there is no charge for a retest of faults that can be rechecked visually. The pass rate last year was 52.7 per cent for a first and 89.2 per cent after a retest.

The test is compulsory for all cars over four years old and cars have to be retested every two years.

The NCT was introduced in 2000 following EU legislation making a national car test compulsory to improve the road-worthiness of private cars.

Small changes to the test were introduced following recommendations made in a mid-term review by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

One was the building of a testing centre on the Inishowen peninsula in Co Donegal.

A spokeswoman for SGS Ireland said last night that the company was currently going through the planning process for the new centre.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers report also recommended free-retests where defective tyres were the only cause of failure and the provision of registration plate stickers with relevant county name in Irish at testing centres.

The RSA is shortly going to start providing drivers with a tyre depth gauge and a booklet explaining tyre wear.

When NCT customers were surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers, they found an 86 per cent satisfaction rating and suggested additional staff training to improve communication with drivers.

An NCT spokeswoman also confirmed that due technical difficulties associated with an upgrade of the computer system used for the National Driver and Vehicle Files (NDVF), some car owners were not receiving their reminder notice that their car was due a test.

"There is an IT issue since the NDVF updated their feed but it is not a major issue and will be resolved in a couple of weeks.

"We expect the disruption to be minimal," she said.

Drivers can also book their NCT online.

Improving the data links between the National Driver and Vehicle Files and the NCTS was another PricewaterhouseCoopers recommendation.

Last year NCTS Ltd reported a profit after tax of €6 million on turnover of €33.8 million.

The company has also won two contracts to carry out driver testing to reduce the waiting time for a test.

The first contract of 45,000 tests is almost complete and it is due to start work soon on a second contract for 100,000 tests.