Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 293: To ask the Minister for Finance if he is satisfied, with reference to public procurement policy that contracting authorities make adequate effort, as his guidelines state they should, to ensure that recently established firms, or firms with no previous experience of public contracts, are not excluded from tendering; his views on the relatively common requirement in tender applications that the applicant must furnish an auditor's statement indicating the applicant's annual financial turnover for the past three years; if such stipulations are consistent with the policy objective of maximising competition in the market for the goods and services purchased by the public sector; his further views on whether the published procurement guidelines and the authorities which implement them pay sufficient attention to the stated policy of encouraging competition in public procurement; the steps taken to encourage competition in this area and if future steps are envisaged; the connection between the State's public procurement policy and its competition policy; if the former has been or will be realigned to take account of the latter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14398/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Open transparent competition has long been a fundamental principle of the public procurement regime and this is totally in accord with the State's competition policy. Furthermore, the national public procurement policy framework, published by my Department in 2005, indicates that competition is a necessary part of the public tendering process. Competition is also facilitated via the national public procurement website www.etenders.gov.ie. The website is a central resource where all significant public sector contracts are advertised and is now the principal reference point for companies, large and small, interested in doing business with the public sector. This facility increases transparency and greatly increases access to, and competition for, public sector contracts. The small and medium enterprise sector is actively targeted through a marketing campaign. There has been an extremely good response to this initiative which has resulted in a steady increase in the number of registered suppliers competing for business. Registered suppliers receive free email alerts to tender notices of interest to them.

The public procurement guidelines issued by my Department recommend that contracting authorities ensure that recently established firms, or firms with no previous experience of public contracts, are not excluded from invitations to tender. The guidelines further recommend that contracting authorities should encourage these firms, such as by allowing them to tender for smaller contracts initially and then, subject to satisfactory performance, progressing to larger or more complex contracts. However, in awarding public contracts, contracting authorities must be satisfied that the successful tenderer has the capacity, including the financial capacity, to perform the contract. Evidence of financial standing may be sought by various means and contracting authorities have flexibility on this requirement. The level of capacity must be proportionate and relevant to the size of the contract. Smaller contracts do not have onerous or prohibitive requirements and I am not aware of difficulties in this area. I am satisfied that public procurement policy and guidelines promote an appropriate balance of competition and business opportunity for suppliers and service providers of all sizes.