Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 69: To ask the Minister for Finance if he will seek, on Ireland's behalf, to have the financial thresholds for public procurement applications, as set by EU Directives 2004/17/EU and 2004/18/EU, reviewed with the aim of raising the limits in view of the fact that currently all projects costing more than €50,000 must go through the procurement process which is overly cumbersome and time consuming, especially for important community level projects. [16764/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Under EU Directives contracting authorities are obliged to advertise contracts valued above certain thresholds in the Official Journal of the European Union as well as on the national public procurement website www.etenders.ie . The current EU Directive threshold for public works contracts (exclusive of VAT) is €4,845,000. Therefore projects of the value referred to by the Deputy are not subject to the provisions of the EU Directive.

It is a basic principle of public procurement that a competitive process should be used. National rules and guidelines set out procedures, proportionate and relevant to the level of the contract, to be followed by public bodies. At present public works contracts in excess of €50,000 are advertised on the etenders website. The main reasons for setting the threshold at this level is to open up public procurement opportunities to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and to achieve value for taxpayer's money through a competitive and transparent tendering process.

Public procurement guidelines are kept under review in light of the impact on operational efficiency, value for money and accessibility to business opportunities etc.