Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

On procurement, as I stated, the sub-group consisting of representatives of the Department of Finance and the Government contracts committee carried out a review in accordance with the Quigley recommendations and the guidelines consolidating various elements of existing guidelines and augmenting them where appropriate have been made available. As I said, within the broader OPW a working group was established following publication of the Quigley report to review the OPW's procurement policies and procedures and to make recommendations as to changes. That group reported and recommended that revised procurement guidelines would be issued to all OPW staff. I am not sure whether that is completed. If not, it will happen shortly. It will embrace the best practice and ensure that Public Procurement Guidelines — Competitive Process, published by the Department of Finance in 2004 is fully implemented. The OPW will provide further training for staff involved in procurement to strengthen that area.

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