Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 80: To ask the Minister for Finance the reason the National Asset Management Agency, when inviting tenders for the provision of insurance and advisory services, set a minimum turnover condition for bidders of €15 million for each of the past three years; his views that this condition is unfair on many small and medium sized businesses which might wish to tender for the contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41080/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by NAMA that, when tendering for services, it takes account of the scope for involvement of small and medium-sized businesses. However, in relation to the tender for insurance and advisory services, NAMA advises that the contract to be awarded concerns a worldwide portfolio of about €32 billion worth of assets, where multi-jurisdictional brokerage services and insurance advice is required. NAMA must be prudent in ensuring that a contracting party can meet its obligations and potential liabilities under any given contract and setting a minimum turnover is one of the means to assist NAMA in doing this. It should also be noted that the EU procurement law, with which NAMA must comply, does not allow for the artificial segmentation of required services into lots. Therefore, NAMA is restricted in what it can do in this regard. However, the Agency does permit tenderers to form consortia or to rely on the capacities of third parties so they can meet necessary requirements, provided that a tenderer can prove that the necessary support from those entities will be provided.