Mr. Paul Quinn:

The Deputy asked a number of questions. As I understand it, his point is that the offerings will be so large that SMEs cannot compete for them. It is important to reflect on the available data from 2011, even though they are not fantastic. They indicate that less than 3% of the tenders for goods and services are above the threshold. This means that, of the amounts being tendered, 97% are less than €125,000. A significant amount of business that the State puts into the marketplace is relatively small. The threshold for works is much larger at €4 million. The State will continue putting a significant amount of small business into the marketplace.

I disagree in part with the Deputy's comments on the hunger for information. Much of the sector's feedback to us has been to the effect that many bidders need information on how public sector procurement and how to answer the exam questions. Public procurement is predictable and asks standardised questions. Through bodies like InterTradeIreland and Enterprise Ireland, our organisation provides direct support to businesses in terms of education.

The Deputy's last question was on quality control. As part of the roll-out of my new office, we are standardising our contracts more. We will also put in place more standardised processes for managing all suppliers and holding their feet to the fire in terms of performance. We have discussed performance under another guise today. We need to manage all of our suppliers to a good standard of quality. We are not simply focused on price. Our guidance to the public sector is to evaluate tenders on what is called the most economically advantageous price. This brings into play both price and quality. It is not a question of compromising quality in any way.