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

That is a very good question. The Deputy and committee members will appreciate that public procurement has to work within not only Irish law but European law. We are constrained by that. There are basic principles that apply when the State is buying goods or services. It must do so in a transparent way. It must act in a non-discriminatory way that enures everybody gets a fair chance. It must give good value and it must get good quality. We have to achieve those aims. There is a difference between private procurement and public procurement in that a private sector body procuring goods and services is not constrained legally in that way.

One of the most important things the Office of Government Procurement has done in recent years is set up the Commercial Skills Academy to train public sector buyers in how to buy things in a way that ensures quality and value for money. The office is providing that service.

In other words, it trains procurement officers in charge of purchasing in government divisions to buy in a way that delivers value to the taxpayer. It does not have to involve central government; it could be a local authority.

We also want to ensure small and medium businesses get their fair share from Government expenditure. We do not want circumstances in which only large companies win business. As it happens, the majority of the moneys spent by the State already go to SMEs. To make sure that happens, I regularly meet representatives of the SME groups. For example, I met representatives from the Small Firms Association and many of its members this morning and answered their questions on what we can do to improve procurement. Very shortly, I will be presenting to the Government a revised set of guidelines on how it can purchase things in a way that favours small businesses. Those guidelines have been drawn up by working with the representatives of small businesses, Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to ensure we have rules that favour small business. As part of this, we propose to change the procurement thresholds. I will not give away everything in the relevant document because it is at draft stage, but our proposals for the Government will really have been worked through with the representatives of small businesses so the latter can get more of the money the Government spends.

We have seen a change in Government expenditure policy in recent years whereby the Government has continued to spend in the face of negative effects in the world economy. Public sector expenditure will be a very important part of keeping the economy, including small businesses, afloat in the future.

Small companies trying to win business from the Government have to apply online. They have to go through the eTenders system to win a bid. We are delivering a new eTenders system this year. For the first time in many years, we will be replacing the entire system and training companies to use it. It will make it significantly easier to bid for a Government contract. When one bids for a second contract, one’s information from the first will be stored on the system, meaning one does not have to type it all in again, and so on.

The Office of Government Procurement has many things to work on this year and has made considerable progress. I am happy it is going in the right direction.