Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide details in tabular form for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012 the total amount of expenditure on consultancy by her Department, any body under her aegis or State agency for which she has responsibility; the names of the consultancy companies awarded contracts; the nature of the work concerned; the fees paid to each consultant; if the matter was advertised for competitive tender [45303/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department engages a range of consultants (individuals or organisations) to provide intellectual or knowledge based services (expert analysis and advice).

Total expenditure on the engagement of consultants by my Department for the years 2008 to the end of September 2012 is set out below and consultancies involved are detailed in the following tables.

The majority of expenditure on consultancy expertise is to support the Department in implementing a multi-annual service delivery modernisation programme to enhance the efficiency and quality of delivery of services to customers. Further technical consultancies relate to the on-going development of the Department’s extensive information technology systems.

All goods and services are procured in accordance with EU directives, and Department of Finance and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform procedures. Procurement without competitive tender is only done in exceptional circumstances, and in accordance with criteria set out in EU Directive 18/2004 and Department of Public Expenditure and Reform procedures. As requested by the deputy, the spread-sheet below highlights any instances where such procurements are undertaken without competitive tender.

Article 31 of EU Directive 18/2004 sets out particular circumstances for use of single or restricted tendering for procurements of goods or services over the EU threshold, currently €130,000 (VAT exclusive) for Government Departments; justifications include particularly unforeseeable extreme urgency or exclusive technical expertise of selected provider of services, or proprietorial nature of goods required. These conditions are also used in the Department as guidelines in determining the suitability of single tenders in the cases which are below EU threshold.

The bodies operating under the aegis of the Department are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Board, the Pensions Ombudsman, and the Social Welfare Tribunal. Details are provided in relation to the Citizens Information Board and the Pensions Board. Neither the Pensions Ombudsman nor Social Welfare Tribunal incurred any expenditure over the period.

YEAR: 2008

YEAR: 2009

*In addition to the consultants engaged by the Department set out above, €85,018 was paid by the Department to support the external research program of the Combat Poverty Agency.

YEAR: 2012

YEAR: 2011

YEAR: 2012 (to end of September)

Bodies under the Aegis of the Department

Citizens' Information Board

The Pensions Board