Written answers
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Public Procurement Contracts
8:00 pm
Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the value of public sector contracts awarded between May, 2011 and May, 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27795/12]
Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 280: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to whom the public sector contracts for the period May, 2011 to May, 2012 were awarded; if they were Irish based contractors or from other parts of Europe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27796/12]
Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 279 and 280 together.
The statistics requested by the Deputy are not available, as they are not collated centrally and can only be provided by individual contracting authorities. However, contracting authorities are required to publish contract award notices for contracts that are above the European Union thresholds on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). The current thresholds above which tenders must be advertised in the OJEU are as follows:
| Thresholds for advertising in the (OJEU) | ||
| Works: | ||
| Contract Notice | 5,000,000 | Government Departments and Offices, Local and Regional Authorities and other public bodies. |
| Supplies and Services: | ||
| Contract Notice | 130,000 | Government Departments and Offices |
| Contract Notice | 200,000 | Local and Regional Authorities and public bodies outside the Utilities sector. |
The National Procurement Service (NPS) is responsible for producing annual statistical information in relation to above EU threshold procurement activity by the Irish public sector and providing these statistics to the European Commission. In this regard, I am informed by the NPS that data in respect of 2011 will not be available until later this year. The latest information for above EU threshold contracts is for 2010 and is as follows:
| Above threshold contracts awarded in 2010 | No. of Contracts | Value €000 | % of Value |
| Irish Suppliers | 690 | 3,001,218 | 92.3 |
| Non-Domestic Suppliers | 102 | 285,183 | 8.7 |
| Total | 792 | 3,286,759 | 100 |
Of the €3.3billion spent by the State on above threshold contracts only 8.7% went to non-domestic companies. In terms of overall procurement budget (approximately €14 billion in 2010), the NPS estimates that less than 5% of the overall spend went to non-domestic suppliers.
The public procurement market in the EU is estimated to be valued at €2 trillion. In this regard, it is worth noting that the open market regime affords opportunities for Irish companies to win business abroad as part of the EU Single Market. In a recent survey conducted by the National Procurement Service 20% of respondents said that they had won public procurement contracts in the United Kingdom and 15% said that they had won public procurement contracts in other member states.
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