THE PERMANENT outsourcing of driving tests to the private sector is being examined by consultants appointed by the Department of Transport. Accenture were appointed last October to determine whether the service should continue to be directly provided by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) or outsourced in whole or in part. The report is due to be completed this month and will shortly be available to the new Minister for Transport, Leo Varadkar.
It was prompted by the study of spending and staffing reductions in the public sector, drawn up by a committee chaired by economist Colm McCarthy.
Mr McCarthy’s 2009 report found that driving tests were suitable for outsourcing. “A proportion of driving tests have already been outsourced during recent initiatives to reduce the driver testing waiting list. Outsourcing should be applied to all driving tests,” the McCarthy report found. Outsourcing of tests started in late 2006 when the Department of Transport signed a contract with SGS Ireland to provide additional test capacity in a bid to cut waiting times that averaged seven months.
The move was opposed at the time by unions representing driver testers and support staff and this dispute was ultimately referred to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), which permitted a limited level of outsourcing.
SGS ceased providing driving tests in April 2009 following a sharp reduction in demand as the recession took hold. The company provided more than 280,000 tests. While a total of 470,000 tests were carried out by State-employed and private testers in 2008, by 2010 this had dropped to 150,000.
In a submission to the Public Accounts Committee last September, the RSA said “current demand levels do not make it attractive to an outsourced partner”.
The Road Safety Authority is committed to an average waiting time of 10 weeks for a driving test, although at some centres, such as Naas and Kilrush, the average wait is longer. The McCarthy report also recommended that the RSA’s driver testing service “be run on a full cost-recovery basis”. As part of this process the cost of a driving test to the consumer has risen twice in less than two years; from €38 to €85. The cost to the RSA of providing a test in 2010 was €77.
Were Accenture to recommend outsourcing, driver testing staff would, under the Croke Park deal, transfer on existing terms and conditions to the new provider.
Noel Brett, chief executive of the RSA, said he welcomed the review and believes the development of driver-testing services, coupled with additional training for testing staff, “was a good story”.
The RSA employs 121 driver testers at 49 test centres.