Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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131. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the amount of Fairtrade public procurement by the Government in the most recent available year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10505/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Under EU rules on public procurement public works, supplies and service contracts above certain thresholds must be advertised on the Official Journal of the EU and awarded on the basis of objective and non-restrictive criteria. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. It would be a breach of these rules for a public body to favour or discriminate against particular suppliers on the basis of grounds that could be considered discriminatory and there are legal remedies which may be used against any public body infringing these rules.

The consideration of clauses that allow for the inclusion of social and environmental clauses in public contracts is something that I have been examining. Social clauses can be used in public procurement in cases where they are targeted at factoring into the procurement process consideration of social issues such as employment opportunities, equal opportunities and social inclusion.  In order to be compatible with EU law, they must be made known to all interested parties and must not restrict participation by contractors from other Member States. The EU procurement rules allow social considerations to be included as a contract performance conditions, provided they are not discriminatory and are included in the contract notice or in the contract documents and relate to the performance of the contract.

In terms of the scope for including such clauses, challenges arise from the need to ensure that: value for money is not adversely affected; additional costs are not placed on domestic suppliers relative to other potential suppliers; and the targeted benefit is capable of being measured and monitored during execution of the contract.

Contracting authorities are best placed to gauge whether the use of such clauses is appropriate to a particular procurement process. As these clauses are included in the contract performance element of the contract, data on the many individual elements agreed at contracting authority level is not collected centrally. However, I am informed by the Office of Government Procurement that they have such contract clauses in their centralised contracts for clothing such as uniforms.

The Deputy may be aware that a revised set of EU Directives governing public procurement have recently been agreed. The revised directives, when implemented, should provide greater scope and legal clarity in relation to the use of social criteria in the context of an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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132. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if banking and legal advice services worth an estimated €103 million from 2011-2013 are subject to tender and financial review. [10565/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I should point out that contracts for banking and legal advice services are not subject to the full scope of EU Public Procurement Directives. Therefore contracting authorities have some flexibility in conducting the appropriate competitive tendering process. For example, they are not tied to the prescribed tendering procedures or timeframes for submission of tenders or expressions of interest and there is scope for dialogue and negotiation conducted in an open and fair objective manner.

However, it is a basic principle of national public procurement policy that a competitive process should always be used unless there are justifiably exceptional circumstances. Whilst it is recognised that many public authorities already tender for their legal services. My Department has issued guidelines last year to re-iterate that in procuring these advisory services, public tendering should be the norm. The Circular also sets out for the first time a helpful guide for public bodies on some straightforward measures they should take, (including under Rules of Court), to better manage and control their legal costs.

In addition, my Department, through the Office of Government Procurement, has a particular responsibility to assist public bodies that procure legal services with the objective of leveraging resources in order to achieve best value for money. In that regard the Office of Government Procurement will examine the spend on legal services across the public service and carry out a review of the markets for the various commonly used services involved to determine the appropriate commercial strategies for how such services are procured.