Seanad debates

Friday, 26 March 2021

Quality in Public Procurement (Contract Preparation and Award Criteria) Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Mary Seery KearneyMary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak briefly on this legislation. I begin by commending Senator Higgins on it. It is positive and good and "reflective" is a very good word for it. It shows the Senator's tremendous passion and insight. It stands as a challenge to the Government, from which we would benefit to listen to and take on board.

While the most economically advantageous tender and cost is a very attractive and obvious metric to use in determining the outcome of a tender process, it does not always take cognisance of all the elements and issues that need to be considered. I appreciate the Government's concerns and I do not want a situation whereby supply chains become laboriously bureaucratic but we must consider the metrics that are used in considering and determining a tender process to ensure they are fit for purpose and test what should be tested. All projects should have an assessment to establish whether the criteria that assess the outcome of the tender process are suited to ensuring that the intended beneficiaries of the process get the maximum out of it.

In recent years we have seen the tendering of the work of partnerships around the State, resulting in the consolidation of services and the consolidation of more managed services with a client and community focus. That has lent itself to innovations in services in a positive way. In some instances, I have seen the creation of new services by the people who did not get the tender. They were able to be freed up to do other areas of work. The recruitment industry has been brought into the provision of jobseeker supports. I believe this is another positive development which was gained through the greater use of the tendering process of the State.

The eTenders system for advertising tenders has been very effective and efficient. I know that from my business in the past. I still receive the email every morning and glance through it. I have done so for years, as do many small companies. However, not all small companies are able to tender for the work. Many companies have to retain the services of a person to write tenders, because they are so complex and there is so much required in them. From my experience, the tendering process requires an assessment of competence and capability of the applicant, as well as taking account of the experience of similar work. The applicant must reference other completed projects as well. For companies that are starting off and getting into the system, that can be a difficult thing to do and quite an ordeal, so I wonder how much innovation and positivity we lose from that process due to the hesitation of companies that find it onerous.We need to ensure that the process of tendering for work takes cognisance of that and allows for small and big. I would be anxious to see that bureaucracy removed.

In preparation for today's debate, I read the public procurement guidelines for goods and services published by the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, and the then Minister of State at that Department, Deputy O'Donovan, in 2019. Those guidelines deal with a wide range of issues, including the necessity to take environmental concerns into account and, in the context of the labour market, to ensure that employment standards are maintained. In our employment law, we have a "transfer of undertakings" provision which is a protection to ensure that the terms and conditions of employees are not reduced when tendering comes into play. I note the level of assurance this provides, having been involved in the due diligence process in that regard, where staff transfer when tenders are won by different parties. We have in-built standards already, in terms of industry standards, EU standards and ISO standards. The published public procurement guidelines are very helpful as they set out to actively engage SMEs in the process and elaborate on those minimum standards. The guidelines also deal with the issue of abnormally low tenders and the need to ensure that there are audit trails. They provide guidance on the exclusion of competing parties and set out the grounds under which this can be done.

We already have systems in place but there are enhanced systems within this legislation that I would very much recommend. Taking time to ensure that we come out with the best possible process is to be commended and I support that approach. I welcome this Bill and the fact that it ignites the conversation around reviewing and reconsidering our procurement processes. That said, I also agree that we should pause and allow to time to ensure that we have the best possible outcome.

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