Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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127. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide details of all public procurement contracts which contain local employment or social clauses. [24605/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The EU procurement directive primarily envisages that social considerations may be included as contract performance conditions, provided they are not discriminatory and are included in the contract notice or in the contract documents and relate to the performance of the contract. A further consideration is the ability of contracting authorities to effectively monitor compliance with the social clause. Experience in other Member States, would indicate that social clauses will tend to be used for services and works contracts rather than supply contracts.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform does not maintain information centrally about public contracts that have local employment or social clauses. However under the Capital Works Management Framework in relation to public sector construction procurement, Circular 33/06: ‘Construction Procurement Reform – revision of arrangements for the procurement of public works projects and for the engagement and payment of construction consultants’, requires any amendments to the contracts, including social clauses, to be submitted to the Government Contracts Committee on Construction (GCCC) for consideration and approval as appropriate.

The Government Contracts Committee for Construction (GCCC) has recently approved a pilot initiative to be included in a series of 3 bundles under the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) Devolved Schools Build Programme Design and Build Framework (procured and delivered by the NDFA on behalf of the Dept. of Education and Skills), which will require the Contractor to provide for the employment of some members of the workforce employed under a public works contract to be recruited from the ranks of the long-term unemployed, in addition there is a requirement to provide opportunities for apprentices. The NDFA devolved schools programme consists of a mix of new builds, extensions and some remedial works to existing schools both at a primary and post primary level and have been bundled into 3 separate bundles. The projects will be constructed using the public works contract for Building Works designed by the Contractor. Once the contracts are underway the implementation of the additional requirements will be monitored and the NDFA will report on the success of the initiative before the GCCC considers recommending their more widespread use.