Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 June 2013
175. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will investigate the full cost of the public procurement scheme and the effect this has on small businesses here which are not in a position to tender or supply goods to local authorities, schools and other Government bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29399/13]
View answerThe National Procurement Service (NPS) is focused on developing centralised arrangements for the procurement of goods and services used commonly across the public service nationwide. The benefits arising from these central arrangements include: cash savings; administrative savings from reduced duplication of tendering; greater purchasing expertise; improved consistency; and enhanced service levels. I have previously stated that the impact of centralised procurement on local jobs had been carefully considered and that substantial dialogue with representatives of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector had taken place.
The greater use, where appropriate, of multi-supplier frameworks can address local supplier issues while also ensuring on-going cost competitiveness of the framework itself. Such multi-supplier frameworks can also offer SMEs the opportunity to participate in national level contracts, thereby offering valuable reference work when competing for public procurement contracts in other jurisdictions.
In order to lighten the burden placed on SMEs when tendering the NPS operates in line with the best practise recommendations of the Department of Finance Circular 10/10. These steps include the use of proportional criteria for turnover and qualification, proportional insurance levels being set, ensures that there is no requirement for companies to submit all relevant paperwork (e.g. tax clearance certificates, auditors statements) upfront. The NPS also uses the eTenders website to ensure all companies can access the documentation and any clarifications quickly and freely.
The National Procurement Service (NPS) has also developed standardised tender documentation to explicitly encourage the participation of SMEs. In these documents SMEs are actively encouraged to form consortia or similar business relationships. SMEs that believe the scope of the competitions are beyond their technical or business capacities are encouraged to explore the possibilities of forming relationships with other SMEs or with larger enterprises. Through such relationships they can participate and contribute to the successful implementation of any contracts that resulted from these competitions.
Larger enterprises are also encouraged to consider the practical ways that SMEs could be included in their proposals to maximise the social and economic benefits of the contracts that result from these tenders. For example Codex Ltd, the indigenous company which won the Stationery contract, is sourcing up to 60% of their products using 136 local agents and manufacturers.
In order to encourage greater SME participation the NPS, over the past three years, has conducted a targeted programme of education for suppliers who wish to learn more about doing business with the Irish Public Service. This programme consists of seminars, workshops and large scale 'meet the buyer' events hosted nationwide. To date the NPS has facilitated workshops and presented at seminars to over 4,500 SMEs nationwide. Parallel with these events the NPS also works closely with business representative bodies such as ISME and IBEC to provide briefings for their members.
Whilst the government want better value for money for its substantial procurement spend they are also very anxious to see the SME sector actively participating in this public sector procurement program.
