Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will address the Deputy's written question. I am happy to come back to the questions about ventilators in the HSE in my second response.

The interim procurement reform board was appointed by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in May 2017 to oversee delivery of the procurement reform programme, advise the Government on a national public procurement strategy and advise on the Office of Government Procurement's objectives and business plans. The board meets quarterly and publishes an annual report to the Minister. The most recent report for 2020, published in August, is available on the Office of Government Procurement, OGP, website. Its terms of reference include overseeing the implementation of the public procurement reform programme; advising the Government on a national public procurement strategy; advising on the OGP objectives and business plan and overseeing its delivery and performance; advising on the sector sourcing partner organisations' objectives and activities; providing leadership to the procurement executive in relation to its roles and functions and agreeing methods of working and reporting by the executive to the board; representing customer departments and offices and providing leadership and sponsorship for the procurement reform programme across the public service; advising on the development and implementation of strategies to communicate the work of the OGP across the public sector, including any policy and training implications for the wider public sector; and overseeing the development and monitoring of service level agreements between the OGP and Departments as well as bodies under their aegis, including bodies responsible for leading centralised or sectoral procurement programmes.

The membership of the board consists of 11 members. Three are independent members recruited from outside the public sector and eight are senior public servants. The members are the independent chair, Mr. Maurice Quinn; Ms Katherine Licken, Secretary General at the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; Mr. Paul Quinn, chief procurement officer and CEO of the OGP; Mr. Greg Dempsey, assistant Secretary General at the Department of Health; Mr. John Swords, national director health business systems in the HSE; Mr. Eamonn Hunt, assistant CEO of the Local Government Management Agency; Mr. Declan Hughes, assistant secretary general at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Mr. Ronnie Downes, assistant secretary general at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform; Mr. Dónall Curtin, independent member; Ms Brid O'Donovan, independent member; and Ms Deirdre McDonnell, assistant secretary general at the Department of Education.

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