Mr. David Moloney:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to make a statement. The statement is lengthy and I will try to skip through it. If members have questions on the parts that I skip, I am happy to take them.

The Office of Government Procurement, OGP, is a division of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that has at its core the management of public expenditure at sustainable levels and responsible and responsive public management and governance. As the Comptroller and Auditor General said, €2.4 million of the €18.4 million allocation from the Exchequer was surrendered at the end of the year but this was mostly due to delays in recruiting staff and longer than expected start-up times in a number of key projects.

The programme for procurement reform commenced in 2013 and since then, great progress has been made. The OGP works with sector partners in health, local government, education and defence to source goods and services that are common throughout public service, such as ICT, professional services and cleaning. The sector partners themselves source sector specific goods and services. We estimate that €6 billion of procurement addressable spend falls within the remit of the OGP and other central purchasing bodies. While the OGP is charged with developing the policy framework and associated guidelines, it is up to the contracting authorities to ensure they adhere to these rules. The OGP does not have a policing role in compliance and nor does it have the remit to review individual public procurement processes.

The procurement arrangements put in place by the OGP cover a broad range of services and it helps its clients with complex legal arrangements under the European procurement regime. At the same time, these arrangements drive real value for money for citizens, not only delivering savings that can be reinvested in the delivery of front-line services but also supporting sustained participation by small and medium-sized enterprises. The OGP provided advice to the public sector on Brexit and issued information notes highlighting the various steps public bodies could take to prepare for the impact of Brexit, including a focus on tender documentation, contract management and contingency planning. The OGP also has responsibility for providing policy guidance to the construction sector under the capital works management framework, which consists of a comprehensive suite of guidance and template documents implementing Government reforms in construction procurement.

The impact of Covid-19 on the national development plan has been significant and the OGP has provided guidance to public bodies in managing the contractual issues arising and determining how to manage tender competitions under way. These steps have helped public bodies and the industry to respond well to the new working environment, particularly in protecting infrastructure projects under the national development plan. A review of the capital works management framework is under way and a key focus for the construction industry in 2021 will be on improving productivity.

Ensuring SMEs can successfully compete for public contracts is critical in public procurement. In this context, the OGP also supports the Minister of State in his quarterly meetings with the SME advisory group and works to address the concerns of industry bodies. The OGP gathers comprehensive information on procurement spending and tendering throughout the public service, which shows that 53% of spend in 2018 was directly with SMEs and that 92% of spend was with firms based in Ireland with a median tender size of €100,000.

The operational work of the OGP is focused on establishing and servicing procurement solutions, such as overarching framework agreements and commercial solutions for all public bodies as well as the procurement of bespoke goods and services for individual clients. Framework agreements operate by aggregating demand from the whole of the public service and are established through open competitive processes. In this way, they offer the potential to realise significant efficiencies. Framework agreements are often broken down by lots into geography, specialism or contract size to encourage SME participation at local level. In the years since 2014, frameworks and contracts put in place by the OGP and its sectoral sourcing partners have already enabled savings estimated at €570 million for the State. At present, the OGP has more than 121 framework agreements in place and in 2019 it completed more than 1,000 competitions. The work of the OGP touches on many aspects of citizens' lives. It covers a broad range of issues, such as contracts for electric vehicles, a framework for legal services, electricity framework agreements, a framework for robotic process automation and arrangements for rapid build housing.

The HSE has been very active in contributing to the national response to Covid. The OGP has liaised with the HSE, utilising its personal protective equipment supply lines and securing equipment for non-health front-line public sector workers. A team was established to support the establishment of emergency site facilities with the HSE. The OGP, with others, launched a web page to capture offers of assistance and equipment from businesses and other organisations seeking to provide supplies and services in support of the national response to Covid. A number of OGP staff volunteered-----