Ms Anne Stewart:

I know that is something that is out in the ether, but if you look at the numbers, a low percentage of tenders in Ireland are awarded based on price alone. In a European context, a very high volume of tenders are awarded on price only. Qualitative data is used quite a lot in the Irish context. While the most economically advantageous tender, MEAT, sounds like it is based on price alone, it actually means the best overall tender with regard to the qualitative data. That is looked at first and then pricing comes later. I would have had experience of that from my own practitioner days. Something may be more expensive, but it meets the overall criteria of what you are trying to achieve.