Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 198: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in the interest of reducing paper use, her 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 she will make a statement on the matter. [39734/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Public Procurement rules do not specify the number of copies of tender documents to be submitted but they do permit contracting authorities to require the submission of tenders solely by electronic means. From a practical point of view it is necessary to have hard copies of the tender documents for each member of the assessment team. If an electronic copy only is provided it is nearly always necessary to print it in order to carry out a comprehensive evaluation. It is usual to have at least two people assess the offer, which necessitates three copies of the documents, as a clean copy is required for the file and for FOI purposes. My Department will consider in future restricting the number of pages to be included in tender documentation and to stipulate that they be printed double-sided.