Sandra McLellan
Question:16. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he has taken to increase access by the small and medium enterprises sector to Government procurement. [51885/12]
View answerThursday, 22 November 2012
Questions (16)
Written answers
There is a series of actions included in the Action Plan for Jobs aimed at implementing the commitment in the Programme for Government to improve access to public procurement for SMEs. These include ensuring that the qualifying criteria for public contracts are proportionate, and providing advice to firms on how to improve their engagement in the procurement process. Some of these actions are for delivery by the National Procurement Service (NPS) and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which has overall responsibility for public procurement policy in Ireland.
With regard to my own Department and its agencies, Enterprise Ireland is actively supporting its client companies in preparing and competing for public contracts. The agency has assigned 18 Advisors to work with companies in the procurement process. This support is in addition to the one-to-one engagement undertaken with client companies by Enterprise Ireland’s Procurement Team. In the last 12 months, 697 clients have participated in events organised by the Public Procurement Team.
Enterprise Ireland, along with the NPS, has been encouraging client SMEs to register on the eTenders.ie and Procurement.ie websites so that they are alerted to upcoming public procurement opportunities. The agency has also been involved in “Meet the Buyer” events which bring together public sector buyers and potential suppliers. The Minister for Small Business, Deputy John Perry, addressed the most recent event in Kilkenny earlier this month. Over 500 suppliers met with a range of public sector buyers on the day, including the Health Service Executive, Dublin Airport Authority, An Garda Síochána, Central Procurement Directorate, National Procurement Service, and Vocational Education Committees (VECs).
A ‘Procuring Innovation Initiative’ has also been introduced under the Action Plan for Jobs, with the aim of encouraging a more flexible approach to tendering that focuses on procuring innovative solutions to an organisation’s needs, rather than prescribed products or services which may be less effective. This approach will afford an opportunity for innovate SMEs to demonstrate their capacity to win public contracts. Following a Roundtable which I hosted earlier this year, a number of State bodies have agreed to participate in the Procuring Innovation Initiative. The objective is that the projects pursued by these bodies will act as exemplars for the expansion of the initiative in 2013.
In conjunction with the NPS, Enterprise Ireland is also exploring the potential for developing a panel of sub-contractors on the Government’s eTenders website which could be available to principal contractors who are looking for subcontractors or specialist partners to complete a project.
Progress in relation to the various initiatives under the Action Plan for Jobs to improve SME access to public procurement are published in the Quarterly Progress Reports which are available on my Department’s website, www.enterprise.gov.ie.