Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 February 2021
375. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of procurement contracts for Covid-19 related spending in 2020 and 2021 that took place via negotiated procedure without prior publication by his Department, by goods and service type in tabular form. [11203/21]
View answerMy Department ensures that there is an appropriate focus on good practice in procurement and that procedures are in place to ensure compliance with relevant guidelines and legislation. EU and national rules promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers value for money.
EU Directives declare that there can be legitimate reasons for awarding contracts non-competitively, such as extreme urgency brought about by unforeseeable events or if there is a single supplier to perform the contract. Therefore, a non-competitive procurement is not necessarily non-compliant with procurement rules.
Circular 40/02 issued by the Department of Finance requires my Department to report all contracts above €25,000 (exclusive of VAT) awarded without a competitive process to the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) by 31 March of the following year. My Department is currently compiling the 2020 40/02 report.
Information on any instances of contracts awarded in 2020 and 2021, without a competitive process will be available in my Department's 2020 and 2021 Appropriation Accounts respectively which will be published by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
