Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 198: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason a contract (details supplied) did not go through the normal public procurement procedure; the further reason for the limited tender period; the value of the contract; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34981/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Education Centre in question is part of a network of twenty one full time and nine part time centres. As per the Education Act (1998) these centres are bodies corporate and each centre has a management committee which governs their day to day business. My Department does provide funding to the Education Centres and has provided the Centres with a set of Financial Guidelines which they use in their accounting procedures. In these Guidelines we have directed that in the case of tendering, the Management Committee must determine in advance the tendering procedure to be used in each case with reference to Public Procurement Guidelines.

The contract in this case was for under €5,000 and the Public Procurement Guidelines state that supplies and services for less than €5,000 in value can be purchased on the basis of verbal quotes from one or more competitive suppliers and that there are no prescribed time limits. The tender in this particular case was advertised in newspapers and on the Education Centre's website and there was a period of three weeks for interested parties to apply.