Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The unit we set up in the Office of Public Works, which will be 12 months in existence in April, has been pulling together and avoiding the silo effect of having individual departmental public procurement operations. There is a need to co-ordinate and pull together in order to leverage on behalf of the taxpayer the best possible value for money. Savings have been identified and that will continue. When one is seeking greater value for money, trying to get one's tender prices down and to effect savings, that means tenderers have to meet those requirements. In some cases new tenderers come from outside and put in a better tender. In an ideal world all of the jobs would go to Irish firms based on the rules but in the context of how tendering works it is not possible to guarantee that. Dividing up the contracts into lots and implementing the practical measures I have outlined greatly facilitates smaller companies to work together with similar companies to put in joint bids. There is huge flexibility. The e-tender system and the availability of that unit is a resource for Irish companies which they can contact directly and be apprised of the requirements and how they might be able to better improve their success rate if they have been unsuccessful in terms of securing the work they are seeking out.

Strengthening remedies are available to candidates who feel their rights have been infringed in the award of public contracts to improve the opportunities for unsuccessful tenderers to challenge unlawful awards and increase the possible penalties on contracting authorities for making such awards. In the case of contracts awarded in a serious breach of the rules the courts are given powers to annul the contract by declaring it ineffective. There is a strong requirement to ensure that the tendering documentation itself is correct in the first instance to avoid subsequent legal challenge and to ensure that the job is done right. As Deputy Ó Caoláin indicated, there is keen competition and people are advised in many instances as to why they have not been successful and where they may have been placed in the overall tendering process after the decision is made.

See this speech in context