Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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56. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of complaints made by small and medium enterprises to the Tender Advisory Service since it was launched in February 2015; the nature of the complaints, concerns and issues raised and which of them were the most common; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1946/16]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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My question relates to the number of complaints made by small and medium-sized enterprises to the Tender Advisory Service which was launched in February 2015.

I ask the Minister to set out the nature of these complaints, concerns and issues, to identify the most common complaint or issue raised and to make a statement on the matter. I am sure he is conversant with the number of complaints and frustrations that present for SMEs in seeking to compete for, much less win, public contracts.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Tender Advisory Service, TAS, was launched last year to provide an informal outlet for potential suppliers to raise concerns in respect of a particular live tender process. The service is aimed at improving communications with suppliers and increasing professionalism and consistency in the way procurement processes are carried out across the public service. The service will be reviewed at the end of February this year following 12 months in operation.

To date, 27 suppliers have engaged with the service. Of these, four queries were eligible for consideration. Suppliers raised concerns regarding tender specification, the terms and conditions set out in the tender documents, the use of lotting, and requests for sample work. Following an assessment of each eligible query, TAS liaised with the relevant contracting authority. In one case, this resulted in a contracting authority broadening the specification and extending the closing date for the tender. In another, the contracting authority reconsidered its lotting strategy, which led to a further subdivision of a lot. In the remaining two cases, having assessed the queries and liaised with the contracting authorities, no action was deemed necessary.

The remaining 23 queries were deemed ineligible or not appropriate for the service for reasons including that the issues raised were of a general nature and not specific to any particular tender, the supplier had not yet engaged with or exhausted the existing process which is part of the tendering requirement and the supplier had engaged with TAS too late, for example after the whole tendering process was concluded. In instances where the queries were deemed ineligible, suppliers were redirected to either the Office of Government Procurement, OGP customer service team or the contracting authority dealing with the specific tender. Details of the TAS scheme, including frequently asked questions and the standard inquiry form, are available on the procurement website.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is essential that there is not just an advisory service for small and medium-sized enterprises and microbusinesses in respect of these tenders, but that there is also an effective complaints mechanism. Such a mechanism should give a result to complainants and not just tea and sympathy. The Minister is familiar with many consistently raised issues that are of a general nature, yet also apply specifically to individual contracts. The prioritisation of the lowest price above wider social and economic benefits is one such issue. The idea of consortium bidding, which flies in the face of how most SMEs and microbusinesses operate, has also been raised time and again. There is a lack of consistency between contracting bodies, for instance in marking criteria. These are general themes and dilemmas that emerge repeatedly and have to be addressed. I wonder if there is confidence in the Tender Advisory Service actually to deal with those issues. The Minister says a number of queries were deemed to be ineligible because they were general. That does not mean they are not worthy, important and in need of investigation and remedy.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I am mindful of the points the Deputy makes. TAS was set up as an advisory group 12 months ago and will be subject to review next month. I will be very interested to see the outcome of that review. No doubt we will be making improvements to the service on the basis of practical experience over the last 12 months.

It all underscores the fact that the establishment of the Office of Government Procurement has been such an innovation. It is the first time the Government in all its agencies, guises and buying divisions, has consolidated its approach to the SME sector. The OGP talks directly to the Small Firms Association, ISME, IBEC and so on. Over time, the process will improve.

In terms of the Deputy's specific points, for example on consortium bidding, one of the things we are encouraging SMEs to do is bind together to bid for domestic Government contracts, and also to get a share of the European market, at which they are now increasingly looking. That will all be good news for SMEs in Ireland.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am well aware the Minister is encouraging that kind of consortium bidding but I am sure he is aware, through his discussions with ISME, the Small Firms Association and further afield, that this is very problematic for small businesses and nearly impossible for micro businesses. When the review happens in 12 months, I believe it is very important there is a listening ear to the reality of how business operates in real time. Whoever is in office, the Government might have a notion of what is best or what is best practice, and it is fully entitled to promote that, which goes without saying. However, if that is something that cannot be complied with or that runs against the grain of how these businesses operate, it needs to be looked at. In truth, many SMEs and micro businesses believe they are effectively locked out of the tendering processes.

I mentioned a number of the issues that arise. I should also mention timeframes, which many small businesses regard as far too tight, and the cost of entering the tendering process, which is way too high. In addition, the issue of transparency across public procurement is raised time and again. The OGP is a good innovation and I have supported it from the beginning, but these issues need to be sorted out.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I will not disagree and I thank the Deputy for supporting the OGP. It is a very good organisation which is exposing all these issues for the first time. In terms of transparency, it is the first time we have had a transparent system of public procurement. For decades, nobody knew who was buying what from whom across the public service.

There is a journey to be travelled to ensure we have much better interaction with small firms. Some small firms are frightened off because the thing seems too difficult. They need to be helped and we are working on that. The meet the buyers outreach programme is where we talk to SMEs throughout the country about specific tenders or projects to see how the companies can bid for these tenders and to assist them. There will be occasions where it will be a requirement for companies to band together, and we will assist that too. All this is important.