Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 November 2023
236. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the extent to which public procurement procedures can be enhanced to ensure a more rapid through flow of State projects, while at the same time maintaining best practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52559/23]
View answerPublic Procurement is governed by EU and national rules. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which governs the award of a public contract in a manner that is transparent and delivers value for money. Under EU law, public contracts above a certain value must be advertised EU-wide and awarded to the most competitive tender following an open and objective process.
The Open and Restricted procedures are the most commonly used procedures permitted for general use under the EU Directives. The minimum time period is 35 days when using the Open procedure; reduced to 30 days where tenders are submitted electronically. The Restricted procedure is split into two stages, stage 1 is 30 days for submissions of Requests to Participate; and 30 days submission of tenders, this may be reduced to 25 days where tenders are submitted electronically.
When fixing the time limits for the receipt of tenders and requests to participate, contracting authorities must take account of the complexity of the project and the time required for drawing up tenders.
In the case of more technically complex projects, it may be necessary to adopt other procedures such as the Competitive Dialogue or the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation both of which require longer tender periods as there are normally several submission stages leading up to the final tender.
There are many measures that can be taken to enhance the process such as using standard templates with which both contracting authorities and tenderers can familiarise themselves, adopting digital technologies and the use of frameworks or other instruments for aggregation where a contracting authority has a significant volume of projects of a similar nature.
From the market’s point of view a clear pipeline of projects enables businesses to prepare and to prime their supply chains.
The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) publishes a range of procurement templates and contracts for supplies, services and works. It also publishes extensive guidance on setting appropriate pre-qualification and award criteria that are proportionate to the nature and scale of the contract as well as managing the procurement process. The Commercial Skills Academy in the OGP has also been established to provide training to those awarding and managing public contracts.
Framework agreements have been set up for commonly sourced supplies and services at both a national and sectoral level by the OGP and its sector sourcing partners in health, education, defence and local government which are available to all public bodies . Where works are concerned, contracting authorities establish framework agreements to suit their particular project or programme requirements.
The OGP also operates eTenders, the national digital tendering portal, which enables contracting authorities to administer their procurement procedures entirely by digital means. This has been a requirement of the national regulations governing the award of public contracts since October 2018.
The National Investment Office in my department maintains the Investment Projects and Programmes Tracker which is regularly updated to monitor the progress of the projects and programmes funded under the National Development Plan. This enables contractors and construction professionals to plan their tendering activity and to invest in the necessary skills or equipment necessary to compete for public works projects.
The tender process operates most efficiently where the contracting authority has taken the time to prepare tender documents that clearly set out the project’s requirements, key risks and deliverables along with award criteria that are considered, succinct and comprehensible. This enables tenderers to respond within the time frame and the evaluation team to determine the award of the contract in a timely fashion.
