Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Comptroller and Auditor General has a role in assessing to what extent there have been non-competitive procedures used for procurement across all Departments. The Comptroller and Auditor General goes in and compiles a report to see what proportion of contracts are non-compliant or non-competitive. Sometimes it is possible to have a non-competitive contract which is compliant. There are cases where a competition is not warranted and the contract is still in compliance with the law. For example, if there is only one person who can offer that particular service, then there will not be a competition. The result of that is the Comptroller and Auditor General publishes that report and it goes to the Committee of Public Accounts. If one wants to compare across the different Departments and agencies, one can see who has the highest level of non-competitive contracts or non-compliant contracts. I suppose that provides an opportunity for Oireachtas committees, such as this one, to invite in the Accounting Officer to ask why he or she is not complying or is purchasing goods and service for his or her Department without going through a competitive process.