Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
284. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of the work of the cross-Departmental social considerations advisory group to promote and facilitate the incorporation of social considerations into public procurement projects; if this will include consideration of the ILO conventions 87 and 98, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18890/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraPublic procurement is governed by EU and national rules, the aim of which is to ensure that procurement transactions and decisions are open and transparent, fair, equitable and achieve value for money. Inclusion of social considerations has been specifically allowed for in the 2014 EU Directives on Public Procurement. As transposed, the 2016 Regulations require tenderers to comply with obligations in the fields of environmental, social and labour law that apply at the place where the works are carried out or the services provided and that have been established by European Union law, national law, enforceable national collective agreements or by international, environmental, social and labour law. The agreements and conventions which can be found in our national public procurement guidelines include, inter alia, the ILO Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and the Protection of the Right to Organise and the ILO Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining.
The Office of Government Procurement established the cross Departmental Social Considerations Advisory Group in March 2019, bringing together officials from policy Departments to share best practice and to facilitate the process of incorporating social and environmental considerations into public procurement. This cross-departmental group met three times in 2019. Due to the impact of Covid-19, it has been unable to meet so far this year. However, the OGP has held bilateral meetings and maintained contact with members throughout. Members are in the process of identifying appropriate social policy objectives in which social considerations can be advanced through the group. In addition to the work of the Social Considerations Advisory Group, officials from the OGP have also engaged in bilateral meetings with Government Departments and promoted the inclusion of social considerations in public procurement at number of procurement related events.
The OGP published Circular 20/2019: Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement in October 2019. The Circular highlights opportunities for Departments to deliver wider social and environmental aims through public procurement including in relation to employment and training opportunities for disadvantaged groups, disability access, promoting social inclusion and social enterprises.
The Circular was the latest in a series of measures following publication of the Information Note on Incorporating Social Considerations into Public Procurement in December 2018. The Information Note assists policy makers and practitioners in understanding how public procurement can be used to facilitate the advancement of existing social policy objectives as well as the wider context and implications of including them in particular public procurement projects.
It is worth noting that the OGP cannot decide for other contracting authorities, or at a whole-of-Government level, what social considerations should be included in the frameworks and contracts that it puts in place on their behalf. The OGP requires guidance from policy departments (and Government approval as appropriate) as well as the agreement of individual contracting authorities who are responsible for managing their own contracts and the associated costs. The appropriateness of including social considerations needs to be examined on a contract-by-contract basis and there needs to be sufficient flexibility to allow each individual contracting authority to decide what, how, and when social considerations can be used. The OGP facilitates the process of incorporating those objectives, once agreed, into planned procurement projects.
The Government has set out a number of commitments in the Programme for Government in relation to public procurement including evaluating and managing the environmental, economic and social impacts of procurement strategies within the state. I, along with my colleagues in Government, will be considering how best to implement the commitments in the Programme for Government, which contains a number of ambitious goals that directly correlate with the aims of the Social Considerations Advisory Group. Minister of State Smyth and I have met with the Chief Procurement Officer and will be seeking to build on the progress to date.
