Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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135. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 181 of 26 November 2013, the amount consultants (details supplied) are being paid in their consultative and drafting role; if the contract was tendered for or a direct award; and the person that decided which external consultants would be used. [52824/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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An invitation to tender for assistance and analysis in the preparation of a Medium-Term Economic Strategy, including an analysis of recent medium-term economic strategies in countries/regions comparable to Ireland, and to provide related advice on the effective development and implementation of the Strategy was published on eTenders on 20th August 2013. The tender document was also forwarded directly to a number of economic consultancy firms. The award criteria upon which responses were to be evaluated were:

- Methodological Approach

- Understanding of assignment

- Relevant Experience of staff and resources to be provided to assignment

- Ultimate Cost

Two responses were received within the 10th September deadline. Following evaluation of both responses by an evaluation committee of Department of Finance officials, it was decided to award the consultancy contract to the consultants named by the Deputy on the basis that theirs was the most economically advantageous proposal, taking account of all the award criteria. This was also the lowest cost proposal.

The total VAT exclusive value of the contract is €39,873.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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136. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 181 of 26 November 2013, the value of the contract awarded to a company (details supplied); if the contract was awarded by public tender or direct award; and the person that decided the design of the medium term economic strategy would be outsourced. [52827/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The entity to which the Deputy refers is an ongoing local authority initiative to promote Irish design. The entity offered to provide assistance to the Department of Finance to develop a design scheme for the Medium-Term Economic Strategy document which will help ensure that its message and goals are communicated with maximum clarity to the widest possible readership in Ireland and abroad. This offer was accepted by the Department. The local authority entity has undertaken this work as part of its in-house design promotion programme, therefore no tendering process or contract were required.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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137. To ask the Minister for Finance further to Parliamentary Question No. 181 of 26 November 2013, if the ESRI is being paid for its consultative work on the strategy; if so, the value of the payment-contract; if the contract was awarded by public tender or direct award; and the person who decided they would be used as consultants on the process. [52828/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As part of the preparation of a Medium-Term Economic Strategy, requests for tenders for assistance in modelling medium-term supply-side changes to the Irish economy were issued to three parties on the 9th August. The goal of the modelling exercise was to quantify the impacts of potential supply-side economic reforms relative to a baseline scenario. Three responses were received within the 30th August deadline, with one party indicating they would not be submitting a tender. The award criteria set out in the request for tender and used to assess submitted responses were:

- Cost

- Experience of the organisation in providing macroeconomic and fiscal modelling in Ireland

- Research history and knowledge of the Irish economy

- Understanding of the assignment

- Possession of a peer-reviewed macroeconomic model of the Irish economy which allows modelling of supply shocks to multiple sectors

Following evaluation of the two positive responses by an evaluation committee of Department of Finance officials, it was decided to award the consultancy contract to the ESRI on the basis that theirs was the most economically advantageous proposal, taking account of all the award criteria. The value of the contract is €28,750 (VAT exclusive).

In addition to the ESRI work related to modelling medium term supply-side changes to the Irish economy as set out above, a smaller direct award contract was made for a piece of work on spatial issues to the value of €3759 (excluding VAT). This work was approved through the normal channels in the Department.