Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 May 2021
227. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the details of the information his Department collates as per circular 20/2019 (details supplied); the date this report was issued; the location on his Departmental website on which it can be found; and the progress in relation to green procurement that has been made to date. [25437/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, good progress has already been made by the Department in including strategic, green and social policy considerations in public procurement processes more broadly. This has been done for example through: (a) the publication of an Information Note on Incorporating Social Considerations into Public Procurement in 2018; (b) the roll out of Circular 20/2019: Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement and (c) the ongoing work of the cross-departmental Social Considerations Advisory Group chaired by the Office of Government Procurement, which is part of my Department.
The Department’s internal procurement policy sets out the policies and procedures for the procurement of goods and services by the Department and provides, among other things, that all staff involved in procurement in the Department must be fully aware of and must comply with applicable legislation and Government policies.
Among the roles of the Department's Procurement Officer is the provision of advice as and when required to staff procuring goods and services to assist them in complying with their obligations under the Department’s procurement policy, including in respect of the application of green procurement criteria. It should be noted in this context that the Department's own core procurement requirements mainly involve the procurement of professional services, such as business consultancy, training and advisory services, the contracts for which do not generally facilitate the inclusion of green procurement criteria. Contracts for the procurement of products, such as the procurement of IT equipment for example, include green criteria where appropriate.
The Department's Contracts Register facilitates monitoring and reporting in relation to contracts entered into by the Department. Work currently underway to transfer the Contracts Register to a new ICT system is expected to be completed by end June 2021 and the new system will include additional information fields, including whether or not green procurement criteria were considered applicable in respect of a contract.
The annual Corporate Procurement Plan assesses, on a whole of Department basis, the procurement arrangements that need to be put in place by the Department over a period of four years into the future, including arrangements to replace contracts that are due to expire, or have recently expired. This annual process provides the opportunity to examine the potential, where applicable, for the aggregation of procurement activities to allow the market to be approached in a manner that would secure a more efficient outcome and maximise savings, as well as facilitating an exchange of information with the Office of Government Procurement and early engagement with it in respect of its current and planned arrangements, as well as bespoke arrangements. Information on whether or not green procurement criteria are considered applicable in respect of the procurement processes involved will be recorded as part of the process of completing the Corporate Procurement Plan for 2021-2024.
I can confirm that the Department’s Annual Report for 2020 includes, at Appendix 1, the completed template in respect Green Public Procurement developed by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in response to the requirements of Circular 20/2019. This is available at this link: https://www.gov.ie/en/collection/da1589-dper-annual-reports-2013-16/
