Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The major difference is that we now have standardised contracts which have made a significant difference in terms of giving certainty to public authorities engaged in this. I will be frank. There are too many people involved in public procurement who do not have the specialist knowledge of markets and sectors. One of the things we have done within procurement recently is to recruit people from outside who have knowledge of and expertise in specific markets on a contract for five or seven years. That has made a big difference in terms of knowledge of markets.

We are in a new space. We will not get everything right but there has been a significant improvement in the procurement agenda and public contracts are fundamental to that. Standardised contracts involve having the agreement of the offices of the Chief State Solicitor and the Attorney General and everyone signing up to it. Previously, people did not work together. This was a ludicrous situation whereby the State's lawyers and authorities were putting these contracts together but were not working together. This has changed.