Ms Anne Stewart:

There are a couple of points from the OGP side. A big area is around the central frameworks. A number of our frameworks are already greened and contain the appropriate criteria. The more public sector bodies use those frameworks, the better they are complying with some of the requirements they have. Sometimes it is challenging to get all of them to utilise them in the manner they need to and that is something we are working towards.

The other area is around innovation. Public buyers struggle, particularly in this space where there are new innovative products and services coming on stream, with how to buy those. The OGP is putting huge effort into working with public sector bodies on figuring out how to properly use the innovation procedure available within the EU directives. There are a number of procedures within the directives. A few of them are overused, but there are others like the innovation procedure, which we are trialling in the public sector transformation division within the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform for buying new technologies. We have written up new guidance on that and are encouraging public sector bodies to engage with us on that. That allows, for example, more SME participation in goods and services that could be used for environmental issues and provide solutions where none are available at the moment. We are doing an awful lot of work in that space.

We are also doing a review of our eTenders platform and the quality of the data going in there. The e-forms required by the EU are helping us do the work in that space.

We are very committed to that. We see it as a very important space and I certainly know from my colleague, Mr. O'Brien, who is involved in the construction side that it is built into many of the templates. It is also important to Mr. Bogie and his teams across the central procurement function . It really is a key element of what we are doing.