Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 160: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which his Department examined opportunities to outsource or co-source back office functions like finance, procurement and human resources with other Departments. [9504/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The back office functions the Deputy refers to are ones that fall within the scope of the Government's programme of Transforming Public Services. This programme is being directed by a cabinet sub-Committee and jointly coordinated by the Department of Finance and the Department of the Taoiseach. Amongst the issues to be addressed in 2010 is the provision of shared services across the civil service in relation to financial management and human resources. As part of this process, the question of jointly outsourcing the services will be considered. On procurement, my Department works closely with the National Public Procurement Operations Unit (NPPOU) both in terms of using its electronic tendering system but also in availing of aggregated contracts procured by the NPPOU for the civil service as a whole, thereby taking advantage of combined purchasing power and reduced administrative overhead.