Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I again signal my intention to introduce an amendment to section 3 on Report Stage. Section 3(4) proposes to prevent contracting authorities from including a best price-quality ratio where the price is greater than 50% of the criteria. The Attorney General advises this provision seems inconsistent with the wording and purpose of the directive and that it could be considered to breach the State's obligations under the directive. The directive requires contracts to be awarded on the basis of objective criteria that set out explicitly that the most economically advantageous tender should be assessed on the basis of the best price-quality ratio, but it does not seem to envisage such a restriction. I will be seeking to amend section 3(4) on Report Stage.