Mary Harney
Ceist:44 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Finance if he intends operating an open tendering system for all Government works contracts. [2552/95]
Written Answers. - Government Contracts.
Government contracts, whether they are works, supplies or services fall into two categories; those subject to the procedures prescribed in the various EU Directives covering Public Procurement, generally those above certain threshold values, and those which are not. The procedures for dealing with Government contracts are set out in the publication ‘Public Procurement' which is available from the Government Publications Office. This booklet also contains a brief summary of the EU Directives and explains the thresholds which apply in those Directives.
Where contracts are above the thresholds they must be processed and awarded in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Directives. The Directives set down obligatory procedures to be followed by contracting authorities, including requirements for advertising in the Official Journal and on the appoaches that must be used in considering tenders. It would not be possible to set out all of the complex obligations in the Directives, but the Directives generally allow for use of three award methods by contracting authorities: open procedures, restricted procedures and negotiated procedures. The circumstances for use of each of the procedures are set out in the Directives.
Open procedures are strongly recommended by the EU Commission and this is the procedure also recommended by the Department of Finance as offering the most transparent process, which is also likely to give value for money, but it is acknowledged that there are times when the use of open procedures may not be the most suitable for the award of an individual contract. The procedures for the award of contracts by restricted or negotiated procedures are also outlined in the Directives. Contracts must be allocated by the contracting authority on the basis of either the lowest price or by assessment of the most economically advantageous tender using specified criteria.
For the general smaller scale contracts which fall outside the scope of the Directives, two procedures may be used, either open procedures or restricted procedures. It is a basic priniciple of Government procurement that a procedure based on competitive tendering should always be used and open procedures are strongly preferred. The objective is to secure at least three competitive bids, where possible.
It is acknowledged however, that in some instances open procedures are not always feasible and that is why provisions are made for the award of contracts through a restricted tendering procedure.
In the area of public works there is extremely keen interest in construction and engineering contracts, which are on offer, with typically a large number of firms seeking each contract. The EU Directives also provide for mechanisms whereby disaffected tenderers may process grievances about the handling of contracts which are subject to the Directives.