Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 January 2013
94. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will reconsider the centralisation of the National Procurement Services with regards to the supply of stationary to schools which will come into effect from April 2013; if the suppliers of the NPS are local and if he will consider using existing school suppliers. [3149/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe purpose of this Circular is to inform public bodies of the mandatory requirement to utilise central contracts, put in place by the NPS, when procuring a range of commonly acquired goods and services. Such central arrangements are targeted at securing best value for money and facilitating contracting authorities to deliver services within their budgetary constraints.
Where a public service body already has contracts in place for the categories of goods and services covered by the mandatory arrangements, it is expected that the public service body will transition to the NPS arrangements on expiry of the contracts currently in place.
The current holder of the stationery contract is Codex Limited, which is an Irish company, and that company reports that they have partnered with 136 other Irish SME suppliers to service this contract. Since 1st September 2012 this contract has been mandatory for all third level institutions (Universities, Institutes of Technology) and VEC schools but excluding other non-VEC primary and secondary schools.
The National Procurement Service will shortly be advertising a competition for a new stationery contract on the eTenders website and this competition will be run in accordance with all the established European and National procurement legislation. The new contract is scheduled to begin in April 2013 and its mandatory use will be extended to include all schools. It is anticipated that the new competition will facilitate many stationery suppliers to collaborate in the tendering process.
