239 Mr. T. Kitt asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the groups who applied to provide national secretarial services for the Leader programme; the group to which the contract has been granted; the value of this contract for each year in this regard; and the number of years for which the contract will be in place. [5792/97]
My Department received bids from seven tenderers for the administration of the Leader II national networking arrangements in Ireland. The procedure followed in the tendering process was in accordance with the EU rules governing the award of public service contracts.
Following a lengthy and thorough process of evaluation by my Department of the tenders submitted, the corporate finance and consulting company, Farrell Grant Sparks has now been selected to administer the network arrangements. The formal agreement of the European Commission to the selection is being sought and is expected shortly.
In accordance with the terms of the tender the contract is awarded initially for a period of one year. The contract may be renewed at that stage or a further competition may be held. The tender cost accepted for the first year is £280,441 including VAT. The networking arrangements will continue until 31 December 1999.
