Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

They all seem to be very busy but I do not get the impression they are achieving very much. I was a supporter of this office but I am disappointed not just with what the Minister said but, specifically, what he did not say in his response. I refer to the Revised Estimates for the Public Services 2015, and Vote 39 is the Vote we discussed in committee. The Minister came into the committee earlier this year and said that these were the 2015 output targets for this new office to complete the recruitment of all staff. He has said now that has not happened. The Minister said he would secure Cabinet agreement to put the office on a legislative basis, but there was no mention of that.

In terms of how the office is operating, the Aer Arann fiasco in which it had an involvement clearly shows it is out of touch. Sometimes centralisation can be a good move and achieve efficiencies. I will not go into describing how it is excluding many small businesses from being involved in the procurement process but the way it handled the Aer Arann air service is an example of how much it is out of touch.

The Minister might give us an update on the service level agreements between the Office of Government Procurement and the various public bodies, in terms of the number that have been completed, and between the office and the various designated lead buyers.

See this speech in context