Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask about the public procurement of products and services for the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, IBTS. I have already submitted details to the Department of Health. We know that, under statute, the Irish Blood Transfusion Service is fully accountable to the Minister for Health. The principal activity of the IBTS is to provide blood and blood products for humans. The IBTS is also responsible for the collection of blood platelets and for managing the unrelated bone marrow registry in Ireland.

My concerns relate to public procurement. It has been brought to my attention that there are issues in this regard. When a body raises concerns, one must differentiate a failure to secure a procurement contract through a public procurement process from more substantive concerns. I am not here to make that judgment call. I wish to express concerns raised by parties who have been in touch with me and to seek reassurance that the procurement process is being followed to the letter of the law. We all know that the key thing underpinning confidence in any public procurement process is transparency. I wish to see reassurances from the Minister on five or six key matters. Does the organisation maintain a tender list? We need to see a schedule of advertising of products and services. There is a subtle difference between the product - blood transfusions - and the services that the board contracts in. Are there records of tendering timescales, receipts of opening of tenders, records of all tender evaluations, and retention of these records historically - or certainly for a period of five or six years - for potential audit? The concerns I heard were about a number of issues relating to products and services provided by the IBTS. I request that the Minister - not necessarily today, but in the future - discuss these issues with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and seek assurances that the public procurement process is being followed to the letter of the law in respect of the various thresholds that apply for public procurement.