Mr. Mark Griffin:

They were part of the national postcode project board team that assessed the implementation of postcodes back in 2006. The important thing to point out on this is that it was not a formal infringement under the EU treaties. It was what is termed a pilot complaint. The European Commission found in favour of the approach adopted by us in relation to the procurement process. It did ask that a number of adjustments be made to future procurement processes. This involved the subsequent issuing of a circular by the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, on initiatives to assist small and medium enterprises in public procurement. In April 2015, the European Commission notified the Department that the circular, of itself, did not fully address the concerns. We reverted with further information provided to us by the Office of Government Procurement, which has taken a number of steps to support SMEs in the procurement process. The OGP published a suite of model tendering and contract documents to make it easier for contracting authorities to comply with the rules and to drive consistency in how procurement functions are carried out across the entire public sector. The office has also engaged with SME stakeholders who have raised matters in relation to possible barriers for SMEs competing for tender opportunities and, in order to address these issues, has developed a new tendering authority service designed to give an informal outlet for potential suppliers to raise their concerns about a particular live tender process.