Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 July 2016
47. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the impact the establishment of the national procurement guidelines has had on job retention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19559/16]
View answerThe Office of Government Procurement (OGP) was established as one of the key elements of the Public Sector Reform programme. The primary aim is to achieve value for money by harnessing the State's buying power to purchase goods and services for the public sector in a manner that enables the provision of quality public services to be maintained within limited resources.
The State spends approximately €12 billion per annum on goods, services and works. This level of expenditure affords significant business opportunities for firms. The procurement reform is being carried out in a manner that recognises the clear importance of small and medium-sized enterprises to the country's economic recovery. European and National rules ensure that procurement processes must be transparent and equitable in the treatment of all suppliers. The OGP has estimated that approximately 93% of this annual procurement spend goes to Irish suppliers which illustrates that public procurement activity is a significant enabler of employment and economic activity within the State.
The recently transposed EU rules on Public Procurement are designed to facilitate SMEs to tender for public sector procurement contracts. Measures specifically designed to improve access for SMEs and start-ups include:
- financial capacity criterion is less onerous; it is generally limited to twice contract value;
- use of a self-declaration (European Single Procurement Document) of compliance with selection and exclusion criteria by suppliers should reduce the cost of participation;
- the discretion to divide public contracts into lots, with the proviso that opting not to divide a contract into lots must be explained;
- provision for "consortia bidding" to encourage SME involvement.
A number of these measures were included in Circular 10/2014 issued by the OGP in advance of transposition; a measure broadly welcomed by SME representative bodies at the time.
The reform of public procurement across the public service is on-going and will continue to provide opportunities to the SME sector to win business. The OGP will continue to work with industry and state agencies 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.
