I understand that the Freedom of Information Act in the UK requires public authorities to have an approved publication scheme in place which is a means of providing access to information which an authority proactively publishes. This scheme covers amongst other things financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, tendering, procurement and contracts. In Ireland aggregate expenditure information for each Department is published each month, broken down by current and capital spending, to show the level of Exchequer funding actually drawn down, as against the profiled amount of expenditure for each month as published earlier in the year.
As regards transparency and competition, my Department has set up a website www.etenders.gov.ie on which contracts for supplies and services over 25,000 euro (recently reduced from 50,000 euro) and works contracts over 50,000 euro must be advertised in a public tendering process. For some years now, the site has been well established as the national reference point for public procurement opportunities. As well as ensuring transparency and competition, the site facilitates wide participation in the public procurement function, for example, by issuing email alerts directly to registered suppliers when contracts that might be of interest to them are advertised and making tender documentation available for direct downloading with advertised contracts. This website demonstrates the Government strong commitment to ensuring transparency in procurement processes and securing best value for the Irish taxpayer.
Furthermore as a matter of practice all state bodies are encouraged to and do place ever increasing amounts of information and data out into the public domain via web based and other communication technologies.