Departmental Appointments

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 December 2012

Thursday, 20 December 2012

Questions (130)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

130. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the process involved in the appointment of a person (details supplied) as legal adviser to the Government reform unit and statute law revision programme director of his Department; the nature of the financial arrangement with this adviser, including costs per hour or per day; if he will provide in tabular form, the amounts invoiced by this advisor in 2011 and to date in 2012, and the topic or issues covered in the advice provided for each invoice; if a procurement process took place, and if so, the criteria used; the weightings that were attached to these criteria; the number of tenders, proposals or quotations that were received; the number of tenders, proposals or quotations that were scored and the range of prices or costs quoted by tenderers. [57532/12]

Written answers

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

Following the identification by officials of the requirement for professional legal expertise to support the delivery of the legislative programme being delivered by the Government Reform Unit in my Department, a person was appointed on 26 March 2012 following an open procurement advertised publicly on e-tenders to act as adviser and as Director of the Statute Law Revision Programme reporting to the Head of the Unit.

Three tenders were received in response to the RFT with hourly rates ranging from €111 to €350 and these were all evaluated by my Department on the basis of the criteria and weightings set out in the table following:

Criteria	Weighting
Expertise, skills, qualifications and experience of the Tenderer	25
Experience of the Tenderer in providing similar services to those set out in this RFT	15
The ability of the Tenderer to demonstrate a clear understanding of the objectives of the Government Reform Unit, and how the Tenderer would expect to contribute to the delivery of the work of the Unit	25
Completeness, Quality and Credibility of Response	10
Costs and price	25

The contractual arrangement is based on a cost of €111.00 per hour plus VAT for a maximum period 15 hours per week. The duration of the contract is 18 months. The amounts paid on invoices for 2012 are detailed in the table below along with the topics covered in the advice provided:

Invoice Date	Amount Invoiced Incl. VAT	Topics/Issues Covered
	€
March/April	10,239.75	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Confidential Communications with Members of the Dáil
		Regulation of Lobbying
		Civil Service Accountability
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Mahon Tribunal Recommendation/ Ethics Legislation
		Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Legislation
		Freedom of Information Legislation
		Ombudsman Bill 2008
April / May	10,239.75	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Confidential Communications with Members of the Dáil
		Regulation of Lobbying
		Civil Service Accountability
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Mahon Tribunal Recommendation / Ethics Legislation
		Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Legislation
		Freedom of Information Legislation
		Ombudsman Bill 2008
June / July 1st	8,191.80	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Confidential Communications with Members of the Dáil
		Regulation of Lobbying
		Civil Service Accountability
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Mahon Tribunal Recommendation/Ethics Legislation
		Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Legislation
		Freedom of Information Legislation
		Ombudsman Bill 2008
July 2nd-31st	8,191.80	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Confidential Communications with Members of the Dáil
		Regulation of Lobbying
		Civil Service Accountability
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Mahon Tribunal Recommendation/Ethics Legislation
		Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Legislation
		Freedom of Information Legislation
		Ombudsman Bill 2008
August	6,143.85	Statute Law Revision Project
		Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Legislation
		Freedom of Information Legislation
September	8,191.80	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Confidential Communications with Members of the Dáil
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Ombudsman Bill 2008
October	6,143.85	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Regulation of Lobbying
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Freedom of Information Legislation
		Ombudsman Bill 2008
November	8,191.80	Oireachtas Inquiries
		Regulation of Lobbying
		Statute Law Revision Project
		Mahon Tribunal Recommendation/ Ethics Legislation
		Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Legislation
		Freedom of Information Legislation
		Ombudsman Bill 2008