Mr. David O'Sullivan:

It is important to bear in mind that when we speak of being compliant that a competition might be advertised today and might not be concluded for a number of months or even years. It is very difficult to say that a body is not compliant with something. Certainly the OGP has a responsibility to look at the tendering data and is working towards that.

In terms of an oversight body, the public procurement advisory group was set up as a working group to look at the development of public procurement. It is focused on data quality and accuracy and is made up of senior officials from the big-spending Departments and the big-spending agencies. It is co-chaired by two assistant secretaries. There is a significant focus on improving the data quality through eTenders.