Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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14. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he expects outside consultants appointed by the State to carry out work on its behalf to take account of the Government's official pay ceiling in remunerating employees engaged directly in work on State contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29680/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The conditions governing the appointment of consultants by the State are governed by national and EU rules in relation to public procurement.  The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money.  

Public procurement procedures require all applicants to meet certain standards when applying for public contracts.  As part of the standard terms and conditions of a contract for service, the contractor is required to provide the services with good industry practice and comply with all applicable laws including employment legislation.  The contractor is responsible for compliance with all the statutory requirements of an employer and is solely responsible in law for the employment, remuneration, taxes, immigration and work permits of all personnel retained for the purposes of complying with the contract agreement.  The contractual relationship is between the public body and the main contractor for the provision of services.  The public body procuring services has no role in the employment relationship between a contractor, awarded a public contract, and their employees.  Any conditions of employment are exclusively a matter between the two parties. 

My colleague, Mr Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has overall policy responsibility for employment rights. The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) is responsible for enforcing minimum statutory employment rights and entitlements in the State and, in undertaking that role, carries out a range of functions including the provision of employment rights information and the inspection of employment related records. NERA operates a system of risk based inspections in sectors where there are identifiable risks. Inspections are also carried out in response to complaints received and routine inspections are undertaken as a control measure.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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15. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the options local authorities have when tendering for construction projects to ensure locally-based businesses can compete; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29621/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Public Procurement is governed by EU and National rules. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money. It would be a breach of the EU rules for a public body to favour or discriminate against particular candidates on grounds such as nationality, organisational size, etc. and there are legal remedies which may be used against any public body infringing these rules.

All policy, guidance and implementation measures relating to capital projects is published on the Construction Procurement Reform website ().  Department of Finance Circular 06/10 makes it mandatory for all contracting authorities to comply with all aspects of the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF). 

The Deputy will appreciate that the assessment of a tenderer s capacity to perform and finance the works is a key part of any procurement process because the contracting authority must be reasonably satisfied that the contractor awarded a public works contract has the necessary capacity to carry out and successfully deliver the project in question. Establishing such suitability criteria that are appropriate to a particular contract is a matter for the contracting authority concerned since they are in the best position to understand the delivery requirements for that specific contract. Once appropriate suitability criteria are established it is important to apply proportionate minimum standards to these criteria. Specific national guidelines for contracting authorities in relation to minimum standards for suitability criteria for construction contractors interested in tendering for public works projects are published under the Capital Works Management Framework. 

The Government recognises that the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector is very important to the economy and that public procurement can be a source of business for SMEs. In this regard, my Department has issued public procurement guidelines to public bodies which are aimed at facilitating greater participation of SMEs in public procurement opportunities.  It is the responsibility of each Contracting Authority to ensure that tenderers comply with all the requirements of the process.