Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 636: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if, in the interest of reducing paper use, his Department has plans to relax or drop the requirement to supply three or more hard copies of tender documentation and to move towards greater use of electronic documentation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39733/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department utilises electronic tendering by using the government e-tenders website for all tender competitions. All requests for tender are advertised electronically on the etenders website, queries are accepted via email and clarifications are made available electronically on the etenders website. In addition, my Department now accepts tenders submitted in electronic format in certain cases.

My Department is conscious of the need to minimise the amount of paper used in the conduct of its business and keeps its tender processes under regular review with a view to streamlining the process. In this regard, my Department does not require three hard copies of all tender documentation to be supplied by those tendering for contracts in relation to building projects. Instead, one hard copy of all relevant documentation suffices.

The Deputy will be interested to learn that all hard copy paper waste generated by the Department is shredded and recycled.