My Department is reviewing the provision and procurement of contracted employment services. In line with legal advice, future procurement will be conducted in accordance with national and EU procurement law. My Department will shortly issue a Request for Tender to expand local employment type services into some of the geographical areas where a Local Employment Service does not currently exist. The specific lots will be detailed in the request for tender, when it is published. The current annual "cost met" funding approach, used with current LES and Job Club contracts, requires a level of scrutiny of day-to-day expenditure, which places an undue administrative burden on both the employment service provider and my Department. Such an approach diverts valuable resources away from supporting clients, doing little to enhance employment outcomes for the long-term unemployed. Moving to a new multiannual funding approach, which pays for each client referred, coupled with a strong emphasis on quality of service provision, will reduce the administrative burden and is more likely to deliver enhanced outcomes for those availing of the service. The forthcoming procurement will focus primarily on the quality of services to be provided and will have no impact on the contracts of existing providers in other areas. Separately, the current contracts for all contracted employment services, including Job Clubs, expire at the end of 2021. These contracts have been in place in many cases for over 20 years with no formal procurement being undertaken in that period. This is not in compliance with the requirements of good governance or proper procurement. My Department is therefore developing RFTs to ensure that sufficient high-quality employment services are procured in a manner that is compatible with EU and national procurement rules. Organisations, including Job Club providers in conjunction with other community organisations, who have strong experience in the delivery of similar services at a community and local level will be in a strong position to respond to these RFTs.
