Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 May 2015
149. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the steps the Office for Government Procurement is taking to provide small and medium enterprises with an opportunity to compete for tenders against larger companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19691/15]
View answer150. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the Office for Government Procurement has looked into the French system of dividing up tenders, to provide small and medium enterprises with a better chance of being successful; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19692/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 149 and 150 together.
The Government acknowledges the significant role that SMEs play in the Irish economy and is committed to ensuring that SMEs are fully engaged with public sector procurement and the opportunities presenting.
The French system of dividing up tenders to provide small and medium enterprise a better chance of being successful when tendering for public contracts is known as 'lotting'. In April of 2014, my Department reviewed and updated the existing guidelines and procedures including the area of "lotting." Circular 10/14 issued following the review and in this circular buyers were asked, where reasonable and without compromising efficiency and value for money to consider the sub-division of contracts into lots, enabling smaller businesses to compete for these elements. The circular also set out other initiatives aimed at opening up opportunities for small businesses that want to tender for public contracts and also to ensure that engaging with government procurement is easy and low cost. These initiatives include:
- buyers being advised to undertake market analysis prior to tendering in order to better understand the range of goods and services on offer, the competitive landscape, including the specific capabilities of SMEs
- requiring supplies and general services contracts with an estimated value of €25,000 be advertised on the Government's electronic tendering portal, e-Tenders, thus promoting transparency in procurement
- encouraging suppliers including SMEs to fully use e-Tenders and avail of its facilities in relation to registration, e-tendering and automatic alerts in relation to future tendering opportunities
- encouraging buyers not to set turnover thresholds at more than twice the estimated contract value and to put limits on insurance levels for suppliers where possible
- promoting the greater use of "open" tendering and less use of "restrictive" tendering
- encouraging SMEs to consider using consortia where they are not of sufficient scale to tender in their own right or where they may lack certain capabilities necessary to provide a compelling proposition.
The circular has been broadly welcomed by industry representative associations. The reform of public procurement across the public service is ongoing and will continue to provide opportunities to the SME sector to win business. The Office of Government Procurement will continue to work with industry to ensure that winning Government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and to ensure that Government procurement policies are business friendly.
