Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

That is why it is important that bodies have a dedicated procurement officer if there is substantial procurement. Once there is a procurement in place, there is a need to be planning for the next one for the same service. Three years is a very short period in that regard. That is where mistakes get made. The difficulty is that a tendering process is a very elongated process in itself. If one makes a mistake at some point and has to go back to the start, that is when one ends up having to extend contracts or roll them over.