Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Question 160: To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of money paid by the Revenue Commissioners to a consultancy company (details supplied) in each of the past five years; the contracts or services provided in each case; the nature of the controls applied in the procurement process or processes; if the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that value for money was achieved in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33054/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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In the period 2000 to 2004, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners has engaged the company referred to by the Deputy to undertake four assignments. Three involve the engagement of information technology professionals to develop and provide support for critical projects: integrated taxation services, ITS — the primary internal Revenue computer system; Revenue on-line service, ROS — the public facing pay and file service; and redesign of the PAYE computer system, PAYE. The fourth entailed management consultancy to support Revenue in the initial stages of the design of its large-scale organisational restructuring project.

All of the contracts were subject to open EU competitive tendering. Standard controls were applied to the tendering process and procedures followed as regards adherence to qualifying criteria, rigorous marking against the published acceptance criteria, with final presentation by the short-listed candidates to the specially constituted evaluation groups, which included external expertise as applicable.

Given the nature and span of the work, these were multi-year contracts. Expenditure on ROS has been largely funded from the information society fund. The software products that result from this expenditure are tangible assets and are recognised as such in the annual Appropriation Accounts.

The following table sets out details of the contracts, including the payment made in each year in which there was a payment to the company. The Revenue Commissioners assure me that in each case the work contracted for was delivered in a timely manner, within budget and to specification, and that the office achieved value for money in each case. The continued enhancement and evident success of Revenue's collection, compliance and on-line services would not have been achieved without this expenditure.