Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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286. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if his Department has re-negotiated external IT consultancy contracts and costs since March 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54475/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not generally renegotiate external IT support and consultancy contracts, although the option to do so has been used in some cases and has resulted in some efficiencies. Contracts are normally placed for a fixed period or for a defined piece of work. If further support or development is required when a contract expires, this would normally be the subject of a new tender process. For some IT support costs, such as proprietary software licenses, where open tendering is not always possible, my Department is engaged in an on-going process to ensure that such costs are kept to a minimum. In general, my Department has engaged in an ongoing process of ICT support cost management, through the use of tendering, retiring older technologies, and insourcing supports where specialist skills become available in-house. In the period between 2010 and 2012, this pro-active approach to IT support cost management has given rise to savings which in 2012 amounted to €660,000 on the 2010 figure. It is expected that the 2013 full year savings will be greater.