Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 30 June 2022
Public Accounts Committee
Business of Committee
9:30 am
Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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There is one point I wish to raise regarding public procurement for legal services. Essentially, there was a two-stage process, which would be the standard and with which I have no issue. However, the company that wins that has a built-in advantage by virtue of the fact that it wins the contract because it is then the one that designs another legal framework to which it will work. We know that was bespoke to the new national children's hospital. We are seeing the same company adjudicating on some of the issues it would have been involved on the other side of. How do we overcome that? My concern is whether there is potential bias inherent in the process because we are seeing the same named company-----