Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

They are getting more than a shrug; they are getting contracts. Public procurement provides an opportunity in the domestic market for Irish enterprises, with annual expenditure by the Government sector of €8 billion on goods and services. Policy responsibility for public procurement rests with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. However, my Department and its agencies work closely with the Office of Government Procurement which comes within the remit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to support SMEs in gaining access to public procurement opportunities. In this regard, An Action Plan for Jobs 2015 contains a number of actions aimed at helping SMEs to prepare better for public procurement opportunities as they arise. For example, Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland which come within the remit of my Department are building on their work to date to increase SME awareness of forthcoming public procurement opportunities. The Office of Government Procurement will publish pipelines of procurement activities to inform SMEs of forthcoming procurement opportunities.

Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland will continue to work to grow the capacity and capability of Irish enterprises to tender for public procurement contracts through the delivery of targeted training programmes such as Go-2-Tender, Advanced Go-2-Tender, consortia-building initiatives and nationwide Meet the Buyer events, many of which I have attended. The Meet the Buyer events, run in conjunction with the Office of Government Procurement, provide suppliers with an opportunity to meet public sector buyers and outline their products to them. Other events provide opportunities for suppliers to network and build consortia.

The measures in An Action Plan for Jobs 2015 relating to public procurement build on the work undertaken in previous years in this area. Last year the Office of Government Procurement reviewed and updated its guidelines and procedures in an effort to make it easier for SMEs to participate in public procurement. In addition, the Office of Government Procurement chairs a working group which includes small business representatives and officials from my Department and agencies and acts as a key mechanism for engaging with SME representative bodies and identifying further measures to improve access to public procurement.

Earlier this month the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Simon Harris, published a report on public procurement expenditure for 2013 that gives an understanding of the breadth of public service procurement spending and its importance to Irish business.Thereport indicates that, of the €2.74 billion in procurement expenditure that was analysed, 93% remained within the State, while 66% of procurement expenditure was directly with SMEs. This compares very favourably with expenditure in the order of 10% with SMEs in the United Kingdom. My Department will continue to work with the Office of Government Procurement and other stakeholders to assist SMEs and micro enterprises to build their capacity to access public procurement opportunities.

See this speech in context