A surge in building applications that has backlogged the planning department is being impartially tackled by a US-based firm able to skirt local conflicts of interest in a “short-term, targeted solution”, the House of Assembly heard today.

Diallo Rabain, the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, told MPs that SAFEbuilt LLC had been hired by the Government for “a short period, at a cost not to exceed $60,000, with an option to engage them on an ad hoc basis as needed”.

Mr Rabain said local building permit officials dealt with 640 permits and 323 permit revisions last year but were contending with applications “exceeding 1,200 annually”.

MPs heard that the volume of paperwork crossed with “increasingly inconsistent application submissions”, requiring multiple reviews, had led to roadblocks that “frustrate both industry professionals and individual applicants”.

He added that local consultants had delivered temporary relief, but that the department had to avoid having local firms review their competitors’ work.

SAFEbuilt, based in Colorado, has 1,700 staff across 40 states, including engineers and architects. The company is also conversant with the department’s Energov digital portal.

Mr Rabain added that final say over permits remained in local hands, with SAFEbuilt limited to technical reviews. Nor would the outside work threaten local jobs.

He said it had dealt with 41 applications since it started work on February 17.

Processing time had averaged 6.4 days overall, but Mr Rabain said pace had dropped “steadily” as the firm grew familiar with the Bermuda context — dropping to “about five days per application, with some being processed in as little as two days” in the past week.