Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 79: To ask the Minister for Finance the criteria used by the national public procurement policy unit in its competitive processing system for short-listing contractors who can tender for major road works; when the change was made in the tendering process; and the way in which the contractors are selected and the persons allowed to tender (details supplied). [17673/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The primary responsibility for the procurement of capital projects rests with individual contracting authorities and it is a matter for them to determine the appropriate tendering procedure to use. I understand the question relates to larger capital projects. Public works contracts with an estimated value above the threshold, currently €5.9 million, must be awarded in accordance with EU directives.

These directives, in place since 1993, permit a number of tendering procedures but the most widely used are the open and restricted procedures. In the open procedure, all interested parties may submit tenders. The restricted procedure is a two stage process. First, applicants are invited to express an interest and to provide details of relevant experience and expertise, technical capability, competency and financial capacity. At the second stage, those who best meet the stated requirements under each criterion are short-listed and invited to tender. The pre-qualification and short-listing criteria set out in the directives must be used in an open, non-discriminatory and transparent manner.