Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Public procurement is governed by EU and national rules, the aim of which is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. It would be a breach of EU rules for a public body to favour or discriminate against particular candidates on grounds such as nationality and organisational size and there are legal remedies which may be used against any public body which is infringing these rules. However, there is at EU level a recognition of the need to promote and facilitate SME participation in public procurement. The new EU directives on procurement, recently transposed by the Office of Government Procurement are intended to make it easier for businesses and SMEs to tender for public sector procurement contracts. Measures specifically designed to improve access for SMEs and start-ups include: the financial capacity criterion is now less demanding - it is generally limited to twice contract value; electronic methods of communication are now mandated in parts of the award process; use of a self-declaration of compliance with selection and exclusion criteria by suppliers to reduce red tape, as in a European single procurement document; the discretion to divide public contracts into lots, with the proviso that opting not to divide a contract into lots must be explained in the procurement documents; and provision for consortia bidding to encourage SME involvement. A number of these measures had been accelerated into policy in 2014 in advance of the transposition of the new directives by Circular 10/14 issued by the Office of Government Procurement. This was broadly welcomed by SME representative bodies at the time.

The Office of Government Procurement works with the industry bodies, including ISME, IBEC, the SFA, Chambers Ireland and the CIF, as well as the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, InterTrade Ireland and Enterprise Ireland to promote the engagement of SMEs in public procurement. Evidence of the work and co-operation in the area can be seen in some of the following events organised by InterTrade Ireland and supported by the Office of Government Procurement in 2015. For example, in 2015 there were 19 go-to-tender workshops attended by 276 businesses. There were two meet-the-buyer events, one in Belfast and one in Dublin, attended by over 1,300 businesses and buyers from across the public sector, North and South, which focused on the opportunities for SMEs with major public sector buyers across the island.

Similar events are planned for 2016. For example, a "meet the buyer" event has been announced for 8 June in Belfast and another is scheduled for October in Dublin.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The reform of public procurement across the public service is ongoing and will continue to provide opportunities to the SME sector to win business. The OGP will continue to work with industry to ensure that winning Government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and to ensure that Government procurement policies are business friendly.

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