The Office of Government Procurement (OGP), on behalf of the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform conducted an open competitive tender process for the establishment of a Framework Agreement for the provision of External Workplace Investigation Services (EWIS). The purpose of this Framework Agreement was to establish a panel of external professional investigators to conduct formal workplace investigation services. This is available to central government departments and other public bodies. The Framework went live in March 2015.
The OGP facilitates mini-competitions under this Framework for both central government and other public bodies. It acts in an advisory role in this respect but the individual Contracting Authorities are accountable and responsible for the mini-competitions and any subsequent contracts. To date, the OGP has facilitated mini-competitions under the Framework Agreement for External Workplace Investigation Services on behalf of central government departments and other public bodies’ requests as outlined:
Year
|
Completed mini-competitions
|
2015
|
13
|
2016
|
23
|
2017
|
35
|
2018 (to date)
|
24
|
The number of workplace investigations undertaken by each company and the cost of each investigation is a matter for each relevant Contracting Authority.