Dara Calleary
Ceist:489. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his policy on public procurement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37424/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 18 September 2012
Ceisteanna (489)
Freagraí scríofa
Public procurement policy is aimed at ensuring that all public sector purchasing is carried out in a manner that is legal, transparent, and secures optimal value for money for the taxpayer. The changed economic environment has meant that it is necessary to do "better for less", providing real value-for-money for the Irish taxpayer by maximising efficiency and eliminating waste. It is estimated that €9 billion is spent by public bodies annually on the public procurement of supplies and services. This is a very significant portion of overall spending and it is essential that the Public Service is achieving maximum value for money and operational efficiency in its approach to public procurement. It is for this reason that public procurement is one of the major pillars of key strategic importance under the Government's Public Service Reform Plan, published in November 2011.
The reform plan includes specific measures to ensure that:
1. aggregated procurement arrangements are utilised across the public service;
2. public bodies have appropriately trained staff to implement reform and to ensure the State is getting value for money; and
3. greater emphasis will be placed on analysing what the State purchases in order to assess other savings that can be made through more efficient procurement methods.
In order to ensure that the necessary elements are in place to implement these ambitious reforms, my Department engaged Accenture to undertake a capacity and capability review of the central procurement function to identify the actions required to realise substantial savings in public procurement in the short and medium term. The final report on this review is available on my Department’s website.
Following the review, proposals were recently submitted to Government. These proposals represent a new consolidated and integrated approach to public procurement that includes: integrating procurement policy, strategy and operations in one office through the establishment of a National Procurement Office (under the aegis of my Department) which will be headed by a Chief Procurement Officer; strengthening spend analytics and data management; examining the specifications set out for goods and services; evaluating demand levels to assess how demand (volume) can be reduced; and strengthening vendor and category management.
These proposals have now been agreed by Government.
These reforms will lead to reductions in the cost of goods and services; better procurement services at lower cost; introduction of technical standardisation; greater attention to contract management and better problem resolution; greater levels of professionalism among staff responsible for procurement; and better performance management of the central procurement function.