Mr. Paul Quinn:

The circular is 16/13, which was issued from the Department and reminded all public bodies that framework contracts offer very good value to them, but could not take away from their statutory obligations regarding providing value for money for the taxpayer and therefore, if a public body is in a position to secure better value for money, it may do so but must be in a position to stand over that and justify it. That latitude is there for all public bodies. However, I remind people that there is also an obligation on public bodies that are funded by the State to go through a procurement process. They are not relieved of that at all. If they find that by running a local procurement they can get better value for money than through a State framework, they can avail of that local framework.