Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 May 2014
110. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the role his Department has in supporting Irish companies in bidding for public procurement contracts; if small and medium enterprises in particular are being offered support in grouping together to make joint bids for contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20443/14]
View answerThe 2014 Action Plan for Jobs includes a number of measures to support SMEs to access public procurement opportunities. These measures are being delivered by a number of public sector bodies, including Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland which come under the remit of my Department, and the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). My Department’s officials are also closely involved in supporting SMEs’ access to procurement through their involvement in a number of the Action Plan measures and through their representation on a High Level Group on SME Access to Procurement which is chaired by the Government’s Chief Procurement Officer.
Actions to be taken in 2014 to support SMEs in accessing procurement opportunities include:
- encouraging SMEs to register on the State’s eTenders website so that they can be alerted to up-coming tender notices,
- increasing SME awareness of procurement opportunities through various public events and workshops,
- providing information to SMEs on approaches to multiparty tendering, and
- encouraging collaboration between SMEs in bidding for contracts.
InterTradeIreland, in collaboration with the OGP, hosted a number of “Meet the Buyer” events in 2013 to give SMEs an overview of the all-island public procurement market and the opportunities that are available. These events facilitate businesses networking, and provide opportunities for companies to form joint ventures and identify sub-contracting opportunities. The 2013 events included specific information sessions on “Consortia Building”, which outline the practicalities, processes and benefits of joint ventures and consortia bidding. InterTradeIreland intends to hold two further “Meet the Buyer” events in 2014.
The agency will also continue its programme of procurement training for SMEs by delivering a number of “Go-2-Tender” and “Advanced Go-2-Tender” workshops on an all-island basis to approximately 330 companies during 2014. Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland will develop regional consortia building programmes this year to encourage collaboration between SMEs in bidding for and winning public tenders. In addition, as part of the Action Plan for Jobs, the Competition Authority and the OGP will be producing guidance on consortium bidding in compliance with competition and procurement law, by the end of 2014.
The Minister of State with special responsibility for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public Works, Brian Hayes TD, launched new public procurement guidelines last month (Circular 10/14), which are intended to make it easier for SMEs to bid for work across the public sector. The new guidelines promote the setting of relevant and proportionate criteria for tendering firms and the sub-dividing larger contracts into lots, where possible, to enable SMEs to bid for these opportunities. The guidelines also encourage SMEs to form consortia where they are not of sufficient scale to tender in their own right.
