Mr. Robert Watt:

I did not say they were non-compliant. I said there was an issue in the past with weak practices. What we now have in place is a circular and an approach to procuring common goods based on a framework we have set out whereby we do the procurement for Departments and provide the goods or services for them. In other cases, Departments undertake the procurement themselves and we provide them with guidance, assistance and help. There is always going to be an issue with compliance. We cannot police every single contract that is entered into. That is absolutely impossible and we do not wish to do that. However, we must encourage Departments to stick with the circulars, to implement best practice and to make sure they are getting value for money. That is what we strive to do and that is what Mr. Quinn and his team are working on. There will always be non-compliance at some level. A report from the Comptroller and Auditor General last year showed that there was a spend of approximately €150 million to €160 million that was not based on competitive tender processes. There were various reasons for that. In some cases the explanations were not adequate, in our view, and there should have been a competitive process. However, the number of cases of non-compliance for which there was no justification represented a very small percentage of the overall procurement spend. We will monitor it, and no doubt the Comptroller and Auditor General will revisit the issue at some stage. We are happy to work with his office on this. The most important principle is that there is a competitive tendering process and that we strive to get the best value for money for the taxpayer.