Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2023
30. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the steps he is taking to ensure that public expenditure on consulting contracts does not expose the State to any risks through the loss of expertise over time within the public sector and the sharing of sensitive information with private economic actors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31358/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraWhat steps is the Minister taking to ensure that the public expenditure on consulting contracts does not expose the State to risks through the loss of expertise over time within the public sector and the sharing of sensitive information with private economic actors?
In line with public financial procedures and public procurement guidelines, it is the responsibility of all public bodies to ensure that they have effective financial management, public procurement and risk management processes in place. This applies to all areas of public spending, including in respect of consulting contracts.
The Office of Government Procurement, OGP, in my Department supports procurement compliance by providing procurement solutions, advice, guidance and systems for public bodies. The OGP has also established central buying arrangements for common goods and services to provide for consistent implementation of policy objectives, help deliver value for money, administrative savings and efficiencies for buyers and suppliers, and improve risk management. It is the responsibility of each contracting authority to manage its procurement contracts, ensure compliance with all national and EU procurement rules and procedures, and ensure adherence to the terms and conditions within these contracts.
With regard to sensitive information, the OGP’s contracts and standardised template documents contain substantive provisions to address confidentiality and conflict-of-interest matters. The tenderer’s statement, a formal document in the tendering process, constitutes acceptance of the request for tender conditions, the contract terms and conditions and the confidentiality agreement. As per these conditions, suppliers are required to carry out a conflict-of-interest check and ensure that any conflicts arising in the course of the contract are raised with the client. In such circumstances, the client has grounds to terminate the contract immediately. Within my Department and in line with these guidelines, these templates are utilised by staff when procuring services above the EU threshold.
On the broader point the Deputy made about expertise within the public sector, this matter is dealt with in our new strategy, Better Public Services 2030, which includes workforce of the future as one of its three pillars. This reflects a strong focus on ensuring that our staff are appropriately skilled for the future.
Over time, the over-reliance on public consultants leads to the loss of expertise and institutional knowledge in the public sector. Recent revelations in Australia have raised the potential for an even more immediate risk, the risk of sharing highly sensitive information with private consultants and then using that information for their own commercial gain. What steps has the Minister taken to ensure that public expenditure on consulting contracts does not expose the State to these risks? Like RTÉ, those in the workforce of PwC or any other consulting firm in Ireland are not responsible for the behaviour of senior executives. Indeed, they may well become the casualties of that type of behaviour.
However, the fact remains that PwC used sensitive information it acquired working with the Australian Government regarding multinational corporation tax. A partner at PwC emailed other PwC offices including PwC Ireland directly to share details of PwC's work on the Australian tax policy. It is shocking that that did not immediately trigger internal disciplinary action. Has the Government sought information from PwC Ireland of who had knowledge of this misuse of confidential information?
Regarding what the Government is doing on the matter, I ask the Deputy to allow me to elaborate further on the general issue of how we protect sensitive information from not only the relationships that we have with consulting companies but, more generally, the overall procurement processes that we have with those who do work on behalf of the State. This is laid out in a number of different areas in the standard template documents that are used to agree contracts. It is contained in the tenderer's statement which constitutes acceptance of the request for tender conditions, the contract terms and conditions, and confidentiality agreement. Specifically, clause 8 states that each of the parties to this agreement agree to hold confidential all information, documentation and other material received. That is laid out into procurement contract that we have. That is further developed in subclause D and in clause 10.B. These documents are available on the OGP website.
I thank the Minister for that, but the question I asked was whether he had sought information from PwC. Was he concerned about what happened in Australia and the connection to Ireland? Notwithstanding all of the guarantees and safeguards he says are there, I would have thought that if something like this happened, the Minister would have sought extra assurance. The top tier of PwC has simply not approached this in an open and transparent manner. The internal review the Minister mentioned is an attempt to avoid transparency and oversight. In 2015 when senior PwC staff in Australia were sharing confidential tax information globally, there were secondments to the Department of Finance here, working in the tax division. Will the Minister implement a review of the practice of secondments from private consultants into the public sector? Does he have oversight of the number of private consultants working with confidential information either through contracts or secondments? We need to look at this with a fresh set of eyes, particularly given what has happened in recent times.
As I made clear, this matter is dealt with by each Department in a way that is consistent with the clear legal framework that I outlined. I have no doubt that the consulting arrangements and the relationship the Department of Finance has with consultants will be consistent with the framework that I have just referred to here in the Dáil. If Department of Finance officials had any reason to believe that information they were sharing with any consultant would be used in an inappropriate way, I am absolutely certain they would act very swiftly. I have not been made aware of any reason to suspect that the behaviour that is the cause of such public concern in Australia is in any way a risk here in Ireland. In any event this is why we have a clear legal framework which is being implemented for any procurement process above a certain value.
