Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I invite the Chairman and the committee to carry out a helpful exercise, and I know it is because I have done it myself. I suggest that they go through a tender process in the offices of the OGP. They can see what a business must go through to get into one of the frameworks. Members will see the different steps that must be taken. We are considering ways to simplify the process further, which is currently under discussion with the SME advisory group. The exercise will give members a good understanding of the different weighting that is applied, how it is applied when it comes to quality versus prices, and the different ratios. Once a company has successfully finished an application for a framework, certain information is kept on the system so one does not have to input the information a second time.

The administrative and cost burdens to successfully tender for a contract have been highlighted to me at the roadshows. As the Chairman has pointed out, a company's strength may be in winning the tender rather than doing the business. What has also come back to me from recent engagements is the need for proper oversight after a contract has been awarded to ensure that it is implemented in the way that it was meant to be. That is another piece that is missing in terms of the scrutiny conducted by the Office of Government Procurement. Other parts of government are contracting out the service and the OGP is the professional body that ensures that happens in accordance with guidelines. We need to be confident that where a local authority contracts out a service, the service is met to the specifications that have been laid out. We need to get sight over that matter ourselves. I invite the Chairman and committee members to visit the OGP. The exercise will be very instructive and will help everyone to understand what an SME must go through.