Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Minister for Finance the total cost of the Central Bank of Ireland for the outsourcing of its IT system, including the cost incurred due to the HP data centre. [4455/14]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Central Bank entered into a contract with Hewlett Packard Ireland Ltd. to provide the physical data centre environment to host the Central Bank's IT systems and to manage the technical infrastructure aspects of these systems. Hewlett Packard Ireland Ltd. will also provide hosting facilities at a backup data centre for the purposes of business continuity. Both of these data centres are located in Dublin.

The Central Bank followed robust public procurement tendering procedures before awarding this contract.  The Central Bank selected Hewlett Packard Ireland Ltd. as a result of an open tendering process in compliance with strict guidelines laid down by the EU public procurement process.  I am informed by the Central Bank that the cost of the tendering process for this service is estimated at €150,000 including the cost of legal advice.

I am informed by the Central Bank that a number of alternatives were investigated thoroughly and compared across a number of criteria before the contract was approved by the Central Bank Commission. The final costs of the contract that were agreed with the provider are commercially sensitive and are not available for release. However, I am informed by the Central Bank that the approach taken was considerably advantageous on cost when compared to the alternatives examined.