Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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916. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason the application and renewal of driver licences was withdrawn from local authorities and awarded to the Road Safety Authority; the criteria under which the RSA obtained this contract; the reason the offer by An Post to deliver the service was rejected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55223/13]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government decided in May 2011 to centralise the driver licence service, under the Road Safety Authority (RSA), following an examination of the options which found that a centralised system would offer enhanced security and consistency, and be more efficient and cost-effective. The requirement for all EU Member States to introduce a plastic card licence in January 2013 was another deciding factor. The RSA was established as the national driver licensing authority following the enactment of the Road Safety Authority (Commercial Vehicle Roadworthiness) Act 2012. The RSA designed the new centralised driver licensing system around a central unit within the Authority and three outsourced contracts. Three separate competitive procurement processes were conducted by the RSA before contracts were awarded to SGS (Ireland) for the front-office customer interface, Abtran for the back-office application processing and CCS (Credit Card Systems) for plastic card licence production. Neither I nor my Department had any involvement in the procurement or contract award processes.  I understand that An Post submitted a tender for the front-office service but was not successful.