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

I thank the Deputy for his question. As he and the rest of the House know, public procurement is governed by well-established European Union, EU, and national rules and guidelines. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money.

As Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform with special responsibility for public procurement, I launched new public procurement guidelines for goods and services in July this year. These guidelines replace previous guidelines published by the Department of Finance and take account of 2014 EU directives on public procurement, as implemented in Ireland. The purpose of these guidelines is to promote best practice and consistency of application of the public procurement rules relating to the purchase of goods and services. The guidelines form part of the national procurement policy framework, which consists of five strands. These are legislation, policy, capital works management framework for public works, general procurement guidelines for goods and services and more detailed technical guidelines, template documents and notes issued periodically by the policy unit of the Office of Government Procurement.

These new guidelines are aimed at demystifying some of the more complex rules and procedures around public procurement and making them more accessible to both contracting authorities and suppliers. They are intended to serve as a tool kit for practitioners and a general reference document for suppliers. They have been written in plain language with a view to providing a clear appreciation of the rules and best practice attached to the various stages of the procurement process from specification through to selection and award stages, and through to the contract management stage. They promote and reinforce improved best practice, standardisation and consistency of approach among public procurement practitioners. The guidelines facilitate public bodies in meeting their corporate governance requirements relating to procurement. However, it is the responsibility of each contracting authority to ensure they comply with EU and national rules relating to public procurement.

Public procurement practices are subject to audit and scrutiny under the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act 1993 and the Local Government Reform Act 2014, and Accounting Officers are publicly accountable for expenditure incurred. Individual contracting authorities are responsible for establishing arrangements for ensuring the proper conduct of their affairs, including conformance to standards of good governance and accountability with regard to procurement.

I do not have the details of the last point mentioned by the Deputy. I did not hear of it overnight but I will certainly have my office and the Office of Government Procurement look at it and I will facilitate the Deputy with an answer later.

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