Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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93. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures he will put in place to reduce the barriers to small building contractors tendering for public works, such as the building of extensions to primary schools; if he will address the minimum turnover of €400,000 that is required to enter a tender process; his views on whether such work would be welcomed by the smaller contractor, many of whom have been very hard hit since the downturn in the construction industry started in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30899/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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School building projects are tendered in line with public procurement procedures.

There are two methods of tendering (the Restricted procedure and the Open procedure). In both procedures there are minimum standards for participation (including previous experience, turnover, insurances, capacity to obtain a bond etc). The minimum standards for participation are stated in the Contract notice/ eTenders advertisement. For school building projects the miniumum turnover is not set at €400,000; it is determined individually for each school building project and generally set at a level which takes into account the contract size and duration.

For less complex projects of a small to medium scale, the open procedure is generally used and all contractors meeting the minimum standards are entitled to submit a tender (thus facilitating the inclusion of small to medium enterprises and those with no experience in educational projects).

For larger or more complex projects, where it is considered that pre-qualification of contractors is warranted, the Restricted procedure is normally used. In the Restricted procedure, there is an intermediary qualification stage during which the numbers of applicants is reduced (or restricted) to a specified amount (normally 10). The criteria for suitability assessment, which are taken from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Capital Management Works Framework, include company turnover, insurances, capacity to obtain a bond, personnel for the project, previous experience, and Health and Safety competence.

Guidance on this process and standard questionnaires used are available on my Department's website.

In any procurement process my Department adheres to the rules and guidelines set down by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the EU Commission in relation to public procurement. This includes the Department of Finance Circular 10/10, which aims to remove obstacles to SMEs in tendering for public sector contracts.