David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are governed in this area by European Union law. Under this law, a public contract is defined by who is doing the purchasing, what the person is buying and who the person buys from. The various directives also set down minimum time limits. That is fair enough because it gives companies from other countries in the European Union the opportunity to put in a tender. Under the 2014 directives contracts are required to be awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender, known as MEAT. Again, I would argue that "most economically advantageous" also implies that some degree of quality control in place. I would have thought that was absolutely essential. Member states had the option of restricting the use of lowest price or lowest cost standards but Ireland failed to do so. I do not understand why we did not do so. This is something we certainly should have done at the time.We did not do that and Senator Higgins's Bill provides that contracting authorities should award contracts based on best price quality ratio, BPQR. That is important because it puts quality right at the centre of the argument and gives quality a clear role in procurement instead of just taking the lowest cost involved. I understand that this is based on the Dutch approach to this area. The Dutch experience is reassuring according to the briefing I have received from the Senator because it might be assumed that if this quality system was introduced, then the lowest priced bidders would be ruled out in many cases but this has not turned out to be the case because in-----