Paul Nicholas Gogarty
Ceist:60 Mr. Gogarty asked the Minister for Finance if a review of information technology procurement is being undertaken by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25714/03]
Written Answers. - Computerisation Programme.
Implementation of the new EU procurement directive is scheduled for the end of this year. This directive includes provision for framework agreements for the first time. These are agreements with multiple qualifying suppliers which set out terms and conditions under which specific purchases can be made during the period of the agreement. The existing EU directive did not allow for such procurement.
To prepare for the new directive, an inter-agency group of specialists from across the public service has been set up to examine and develop methods of information technology procurement based on frameworks. The framework agreements which will emerge during 2004 from this project will focus on items such as PCs, servers, laptops, operating systems, commonly used software, printers and associated consumables and it is intended that they will run for a period of two to three years. A key objective is to achieve a reduction in the time, costs and specialist staff effort currently associated with EU-type procurements for information technology goods and services, and also to get significantly better value from aggregating demand across public service agencies.