The Department of Finance and Personnel insisted the Workplace 2010 contract involving more than 80 civil service buildings, will move towards the final bidder stage later this year.

Their statement came after reports the Executive has agreed to delay the sales because of the fragility of the property market and to maximise cash gains.

A special Stormont task force has concluded the potential value of the sell-off over the next decade could be around £900m - in addition to the £1.1bn already identified.

In a statement last night, the Department of Finance and Personnel made it clear that progress towards the final offer stage in the Workplace 2010 procurement for the Civil Service office estate has not halted.

"On 14 January invitations were issued to Land Securities Trillium and Telereal inviting them to submit their Best and Final Offers for the Workplace 2010 contract. When the bids are returned at the end of April 2008 the Department will begin a process of evaluation with a view to moving towards preferred bidder stage later in the year," it said.

The Workplace 2010 scheme, which involves almost 80 Civil Service offices being taken over by the private sector in Northern Ireland's biggest ever Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in the province, had faced a court challenge from the Partenaire consortium, one of the unsuccessful bidders for the properties.

An out-of-court settlement was reached last month on a case which had been due to be heard by a commercial court judge but did not result in the Partenaire company re-entering the race to buy the buildings.

Workplace 2010 involves a range of Government buildings which will be sold to a private sector landlord, who will then rent them back to departments over a 20-year period.