Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is probably aware, the majority of procurement contracts awarded by the State in that sector go to Irish companies, which sustains jobs across the country. That is important.

The OGP takes a balanced approach to delivering value for the taxpayer and ensures that public procurement is accessible by all businesses, including the SME sector. This is done in a number of ways, including: undertaking market analysis prior to tendering to better understand the range of goods and services on offer, market developments and innovation, what commercial models are available, the competitive landscape and the specific capabilities of the SME sector; setting proportionate eligibility requirements, for example, insurance and turnover, to support SME participation; breaking tendering competitions into smaller lots, for example, by sector, region, value and so on, to encourage the SME sector to participate and align with the capacity and capability of the marketplace; actively engaging in a range of events to help foster awareness of, and encourage engagement in, the public procurement process; and supporting supplier awareness of the Government's national tendering platform, .

Circular 10/2014 on initiatives to assist SMEs in public procurement, issued by my Department, sets out the policy in this regard. The policy is reiterated in the public procurement guidelines issued in July.

The SME advisory group, which is chaired by me in accordance with the programme for Government, meets on a quarterly basis to address issues concerning SME participation in public procurement. Representatives include the OGP, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, IBEC, the Small Firms Association, SFA, the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, Chambers Ireland and the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, ISME.

It is a matter for individual contracting authorities to ensure that their public procurement function is discharged in line with the procurement rules and procedures. The Public Service Spend and Tendering Analysis Report 2015, published by the OGP and launched by me on 19 September 2017, indicates that the majority of the spend analysed is with SMEs.

The OGP will continue to work with industry to ensure that the winning of Government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and Government procurement policies are business friendly.

I take on board the Deputy's suggestion about doing something for Members in Leinster House. I will get my office to make arrangements regarding a suggestion of my own, namely, bringing the Deputy and other Opposition spokespersons on procurement together for a full engagement with the OGP at its offices and to meet the respective tendering groups.

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