Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 527: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his Department has a corporate procurement plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6352/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I can inform the Deputy that procurement activity in my Department continues to be managed in accordance with established public sector guidelines. As the Deputy will be aware, the requirement to produce an annual corporate procurement plan comes from the national public procurement policy framework, which was issued by the Department of Finance in May 2005. My Department's statement of strategy for 2005-07 incorporates an objective of promoting procurement management reform by developing policies, processes and practices in support of a more strategic approach to procurement within the Department. In response to that, I have initiated steps to produce a corporate procurement plan as part of the strategic planning process for 2006.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 528: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made within his Department in relation to reviewing existing contract specifications awarded by all Government Departments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6367/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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As the Deputy will be aware, last October the Government decided to introduce a number of new measures to improve the management and control of major ICT projects and the Minister for Finance also announced additional general measures to secure better value for money from public expenditure.

On 25 January, the Department of Finance issued guidelines on the implementation of the measures outlined by the Government and the Minister for Finance. These guidelines call for formal review of contracts for those projects in excess of €30 million in value, with reports to be sent to the Minister, and a provision for their audit by the Department of Finance. To ensure that this Department delivers our capital projects on time and within budget we moved to strengthen our governance structure by setting up a new project oversight board in late 2004. The board is chaired by myself and its members include the secretary general, the heads of the relevant agencies, the relevant assistant secretaries, the Chairman of Commissioners of Public Works and the Department's project delivery manager. The main function of the board is to ensure that proper procedures and structures are put in place for each project, and, crucially, to monitor the progress of each project to identify possible impediments and delays to the successful completion of a project. The board meets on a quarterly basis.

I can also advise the Deputy that my Department is examining the other aspects of the guidelines and will be implementing the new requirements.