Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 8 February 2023
Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Estimates for Public Services 2023
Vote 11 - Public Expenditure and Reform (Revised)
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances (Revised)
Vote 14 - State Laboratory (Revised)
Vote 15 - Secret Service (Revised)
Vote 17 - Public Appointments Service (Revised)
Vote 18 - National Shared Services Office (Revised)
Vote 19 - Office of the Ombudsman (Revised)
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement (Revised)
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (Revised)
Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source
I have not had a complaint to date that people’s tenders are not being considered. Once you bid for a contract, you really have to be treated equally in law along with other bidders. The process is complex the first time a company bids for a Government contract, particularly if it is a small organisation. A very large organisation might be so large that it has a division that does nothing else but bid for Government contracts. Such an organisation gets used to the process and is skilled in it.
What I would say to any small company that desires to bid for a contract is that it should take part. If it finds at some point in preparing a bid that it needs help, it can contact the tender advisory service in the Office of Government Procurement. It has a helpline and offers information to guide businesses in the process. The contracting authority - the body running the competition, which might be the Department of Health or Department of Defence - will answer a question a company has on a particular bid; however, if the company is still confused about the whole process after the question has been answered, it can go to the Office of Government Procurement and seek additional information. In some cases, a company is so small that it is unlikely to win the bid. It may be felt that its turnover is so small that it is taking on a job that is far too large for it to handle. That is understandable, for example, if the size of a contract is a multiple of the company’s turnover in any one year.
We say to companies that have specialist skills and feel they could compete well that they should join consortia involving larger companies so they can take part. That is something we try to do. We have also advised public sector bodies to divide very large contracts into lots. Where there is a catering contract, for example, there could be one for the south east, another for the north west, and so on. This allows for smaller contracts that appeal to smaller companies with a regional focus.
No comments