Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. Public procurement is a key part of the Government's overall reform agenda. The public procurement process is governed by EU legislation and national rules and guidelines. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime that delivers best value for money. It is important to point out that this regime also works to the benefit of Irish suppliers wishing to supply goods, service or works in other EU member states. When carrying out procurement procedures, contracting authorities require suppliers to comply with a wide variety of legislation in areas that would include taxation, social policy, the environment and employment law. Compliance with the legislation covering these areas is rightly a matter for the relevant Departments or agencies or both involved in the particular procurement process.Public procurement regulations require applicants to meet certain standards when applying for public contracts. That applies across the board.

The criteria upon which contracting authorities may exclude applicants from the award procedure of public contracts are set out in the European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations and the EU public procurement directives of 2014. Before an applicant is excluded for certain breaches, the applicant may make a case and provide supporting evidence as to why it should not be excluded. The contracting authority must consider this evidence before deciding whether to exclude or include an applicant. In addition, the qualifying tenderer must submit signed declarations stating that none of the circumstances, for example, participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, terrorist offences etc. outlined in Article 57 of the procurement directive apply. Contracting authorities may also require applicants for public contracts to declare that they have not breached their obligations in the fields of environmental, social and labour law established by European Union law, national law, and collective agreements or by the international environmental, social and labour law provisions listed in annexe X of the procurement directive. These requirements are set out in the template documents used in tendering for goods and services, which have been developed by the Office of Government Procurement in conjunction with the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Chief State Solicitor.

A comprehensive interpretation of the public procurement directives, Public Procurement Guidelines for Goods and Services, has been developed to improve consistency and promote best practice in the application of the public procurement rules. In addition to developing guidance and providing advice to contracting authorities, the Office of Government Procurement has responsibility for developing and setting out the overarching policy framework for public procurement in Ireland. In this regard, the Office of Government Procurement has developed the national public procurement policy framework which consists of five strands, including legislation; Government policy; the capital works management framework for public works; general procurement guidelines for goods and services; and more detailed technical guidelines, template documentation and information notes, as issued periodically by the Office of Government Procurement. This framework enables a more consistent approach to public procurement across the public sector by setting out the procurement procedures to be followed by public bodies. The framework supports contracting authorities, including the four key sectors, namely, health, education, local government and defence, individual Departments, offices, commercial and non-commercial State bodies, and entities which are subsidised at a rate of 50% or more by a public body, when awarding contracts for works, goods and services. It enables public bodies to adopt procedures to meet their public procurement requirements and facilitates compliance with EU and national procurement rules. While the Office of Government Procurement guidelines facilitates and enables compliance with public procurement rules, it is the responsibility of each contracting authority to ensure that they adhere to these rules.