Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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12. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if the measures in An Action Plan for Jobs 2015 dealing with small and medium enterprise and micro-enterprise access to public procurement of goods and services contracts are sufficiently ambitious to increase both sectors' share of these public contracts within the lifetime of the plan. [12097/15]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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Public procurement presents one of the biggest opportunities for SMEs in the State. An Action Plan for Jobs states the ambitions of the Government are merely to increase SME awareness and identify further measures to assist public sector procurement. In other words, in the Government's fourth year in office, its ambition is to look into the matter. I sat with a previous Minister responsible for the OPW in his office and asked him why the Government was rolling up all contracts and making it more difficult for SMEs. All we had was a shrug. Do small businesses not deserve more than a shrug with regard to public procurement?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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They are getting more than a shrug; they are getting contracts. Public procurement provides an opportunity in the domestic market for Irish enterprises, with annual expenditure by the Government sector of €8 billion on goods and services. Policy responsibility for public procurement rests with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. However, my Department and its agencies work closely with the Office of Government Procurement which comes within the remit of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to support SMEs in gaining access to public procurement opportunities. In this regard, An Action Plan for Jobs 2015 contains a number of actions aimed at helping SMEs to prepare better for public procurement opportunities as they arise. For example, Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland which come within the remit of my Department are building on their work to date to increase SME awareness of forthcoming public procurement opportunities. The Office of Government Procurement will publish pipelines of procurement activities to inform SMEs of forthcoming procurement opportunities.

Enterprise Ireland and InterTradeIreland will continue to work to grow the capacity and capability of Irish enterprises to tender for public procurement contracts through the delivery of targeted training programmes such as Go-2-Tender, Advanced Go-2-Tender, consortia-building initiatives and nationwide Meet the Buyer events, many of which I have attended. The Meet the Buyer events, run in conjunction with the Office of Government Procurement, provide suppliers with an opportunity to meet public sector buyers and outline their products to them. Other events provide opportunities for suppliers to network and build consortia.

The measures in An Action Plan for Jobs 2015 relating to public procurement build on the work undertaken in previous years in this area. Last year the Office of Government Procurement reviewed and updated its guidelines and procedures in an effort to make it easier for SMEs to participate in public procurement. In addition, the Office of Government Procurement chairs a working group which includes small business representatives and officials from my Department and agencies and acts as a key mechanism for engaging with SME representative bodies and identifying further measures to improve access to public procurement.

Earlier this month the Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Simon Harris, published a report on public procurement expenditure for 2013 that gives an understanding of the breadth of public service procurement spending and its importance to Irish business.Thereport indicates that, of the €2.74 billion in procurement expenditure that was analysed, 93% remained within the State, while 66% of procurement expenditure was directly with SMEs. This compares very favourably with expenditure in the order of 10% with SMEs in the United Kingdom. My Department will continue to work with the Office of Government Procurement and other stakeholders to assist SMEs and micro enterprises to build their capacity to access public procurement opportunities.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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An Action Plan for Jobs 2015 states with regard to public procurement and SMEs that its ambitions include increasing awareness and looking into further methods to improve it. The Minister of State has said €2.4 billion in public procurement was analysed and referred to expenditure of €8 billion. The truth of the matter is that the Office of Public Procurement simply does not know how much public procurement is through small Irish SMEs. The figure is not available, which is shocking. There is obviously a gulf between our ambition for public procurement and that of the Government. There is a gulf between the ambitions of the Small Firms Association and the Irish School Art Supply Federation which has very clearly highlighted the need to reduce the significant blockages in the State. For example, why will the Minister not commit in An Action Plan for Jobs to use the criterion of the most economically advantageous tender? That would take into account value for money, quality after-sales service, social values and whole-economy benefits. Why will the Government not consider this?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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We are considering all the time how we can improve opportunities for SMEs and micro-enterprises in order that they can engage with the Office of Public Procurement to win public contracts. The evidence from the 2013 figures which represent the first analysis of its kind undertaken shows that the performance of SMEs in winning public contracts is very strong. By comparison with the position in the United Kingdom, it is particularly strong. I am quite surprised that no Government before the current one took the opportunity to examine in a comprehensive way the performance of SMEs in public procurement. We are doing so and will have annual reports. We will be examining the trends. Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and the Government are very committed to making sure we can facilitate as many SMEs and micro-enterprises as possible to win public contracts so as to sustain and support Irish business and grow the number of Irish jobs.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The enterprise agencies should be focusing on the key issue, that is, getting rid of blockages. There are tenders rolled up into massive tenders that preclude small businesses from competing. There are articles within contracts that state tendering companies must have a massive turnover and profit and be heavily insured. This also precludes small businesses. The State is measuring which tenders are the cheapest. The fact of the matter is that a local tender could have a far greater impact on the economy. This means the creation of more jobs, addressing regional imbalances and fostering innovation. These are real opportunities within the grasp of the Government. As there are only 12 months, at most, remaining in the Government's term in office, I urge it to move beyond increasing awareness of tenders to look further into the matter.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I find in my day-to-day work as a constituency Deputy that it is often the case there is a misunderstanding by SMEs and micro-enterprises about the way in which they might approach public tendering processes. This is why it is so important that our State agencies work with business representative organisations to break down any of those barriers and misconceptions. It is misleading of the Deputy to suggest there is some kind of widespread difficulty with SMEs accessing the public procurement system. It is not the case and the evidence going back to 2013 that we have analysed shows strongly that the figures are high. In terms of the analysis carried out, some 66% of public procurement is directly with SMEs. I would like to see it grow and to see SMEs in this country continue to build their capacity to engage with the Office of Government Procurement and avail of other opportunities in terms of major public projects. It is happening and I believe we would all like it to grow.