Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 305: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number and identity of contracts or procurements approved, signed, entered into or otherwise committed to in the past 12 months; if normal procedures and requirements were followed in each case; the exceptions that were recommended and by whom; if recommendations were made by groups, bodies, agencies or individuals with whom Government Departments, State or semi-State agencies have current or previous associations; if all such projects or procurements were fully advertised and assessed and by whom; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10848/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has regard to appropriate Department of Finance guidelines on procurement, including the general requirement that a competitive tendering process is in place for all contracts above €50,000. Procurement guidelines and practices in the Department are regularly reviewed and a set of consolidated guidelines has been circulated to all staff. Additional internal procedures are in place to strengthen monitoring and control of procurement. Reference material on procurement has been published on the Department's intranet and is readily available to all staff.

Proposals for large projects and the use of consultancy services by my Department are set out in divisional business plans, which are reviewed and endorsed by my Department's management team each year. In addition, I am consulted on significant new consultancy proposals on a continuing basis.

My Department advertises contracts as widely as possible and to this end the public procurement website eTenders is used. From time to time, where special services are required which are only available from one source, contracts have been awarded on the basis of single tendering. These cases are reported to the internal Audit Unit of my Department and to the Comptroller and Auditor General to ensure that value for money requirements are respected.

It is normal practice for all large projects to be evaluated by a project board or steering group. In the great majority of these cases, the project board is made up of Departmental staff although occasionally specific external expertise is required for the evaluation process. In all cases, the board is chaired by Departmental staff at the appropriate level.

At any one time there are thousands of contracts entered into by my Department, and compilation of detailed information on all of these would involve a disproportionate amount of time and work. However, information in relation to contracts entered into in the last 12 months where the value of the contract exceeds €50,000 is set out in the tables. In total 61 such contracts were entered into in 2006; of these 12 were awarded by means of a single tendering process.