Written answers
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Department of Public Expenditure and Reform
Departmental Contracts Data
Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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256. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the public contracts that have been awarded to a company (details supplied) or subsidiaries of the company in the lifetime of this Government. [39987/14]
Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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257. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the public contracts that have been awarded to companies (details supplied) or subsidiaries of companies. [39988/14]
Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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258. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of Government contracts that were awarded to companies in County Wexford last year; and the number of Government contracts that were awarded to companies in County Wexford in the lifetime of this Government. [39989/14]
Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 256 to 258, inclusive, together.
It must be noted that much of the information sought by the Deputy is not centrally collected by my Department and certain information requested (including shareholder information) is not mandated to be collected by contracting authorities as part of a procurement process. Whilst individual contracting authorities in the public and utilities sectors would hold information in relation to contracts awarded by them, they are not required to collect the details of all the shareholders that have invested in a company that has been awarded a public contract.
Historical contract award data available to the OGP only pertains to what was previously mandated to be entered into e-Tenders. All government entities are mandated to publish all above OJEU threshold tender notices and awards on OJEU via e-Tenders but Tenders below threshold value but above €25,000 have a general requirement to be advertised on e-Tenders and no requirement to enter award details. Circular 10/14 which was issued this year mandates the entry of award details in e-Tenders for all tenders >€25,000 published after August 1 2014 so we expect to be able to report on award details for all contracts awarded above €25,000 in the future. We have developed new functionality in e-Tenders which we released in August 2014 to assist the OGP with ensuring award data is entered into e-Tenders and for reporting on this data.
It should be noted that the contract details provided below are limited to awards for which the details have been entered into eTenders (historically mostly only those above OJEU threshold) and the Supplier details are dependent on information provided by Suppliers for which an award notice was published by the contracting authority. They do not reflect the majority of tenders for which there is no EU Directive requirement to publish an award notice and no historical mandate (prior to Circular 10/14) as usual behaviour is not to enter award details for these awards. The EU thresholds are: for works contracts the threshold is €5.186 million; for supplies and service contracts awarded by Government Departments the threshold is €134,000 and for the remainder of public bodies the threshold is €207,000. The threshold for supplies and service contracts of entities operating in utility sectors (water, energy, transport and postal) is €414,000.
Nine contracts are recorded as been awarded to companies with an address in County Wexford since the current government inception. The details are:
| Contract Name | Contracting Authority | Company Name | Planned Value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proposed Upgrading of Existing Waste Water Treatment System | Irish Aviation Authority | Molloy Engineering | €60,000 | 2014 |
| Provision of Endpoint solution for over 1000 endpoints | Brothers of Charity Services Galway | Datapac | €30,000 | 2014 |
| The supply and erection of Safety Barrier repairs on National Roads In County Kerry | Kerry County Council | Guardrail Ireland ltd | €150,000 | 2014 |
| Multi Supplier Framework Agreement for the Provision of Stationery, Printer Toners, Printed Material and Hospital Charts | The National Maternity Hospital | Datapac | €1,000,000 | 2014 |
| Provision of Servers for the Office of Public Works | OPW | Datapac | €50,000 | 2014 |
| Supply of SAN Storage Device to SFI | Science Foundation Ireland | Datapac | €80,000 | 2013 |
| Multi Supplier Framework for the Provision of Personal Computers | Office of Government Procurement | Datapac | €2000,000 | 2014 |
| Supply of ICT Consumables | Office of Government Procurement | Datapac | €11,000,000 | 2013 |
| Supply of ICT Consumables | Office of Government Procurement | Datapac | €8,000,000 | 2012 |
Of the list of companies supplied by the Deputy only three are recorded on the eTenders system as having been awarded contracts in the lifetime of the current Government. It should be noted that Another 9 is a trading name of Business Recovery Services Ltd. The details are:
| Company Name | Contract Name | Contracting Authority | Planned Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sierra Communication | Framework Agreement for Installation of Street Lighting in the Dublin City Council Area | Dublin City Council | # |
| # | Dublin Region Water mains Rehabilitation Project - Contractor Framework No. 2 | Dublin City Council | # |
| # | Blanchardstown Regional Drainage Scheme - Contract No.9 - Permanent Flow Monitors | Fingal County Council | €600,000 |
| Business Recovery Services Ltd | The Provision of an Infrastructure Platform to Horse Racing Ireland | Horse Racing Ireland | €600,000 |
| Another 9 | The Provision of an Infrastructure Platform to Horse Racing Ireland | Horse Racing Ireland | €600,000 |
| # | Business Continuity Disaster Recovery 2013-2016 | Commission for Aviation Regulation | €15,000 |
The Deputy will be aware that reform of public procurement is a key element of the Government's Public Service Reform agenda. The new approach to public procurement involves integrating procurement policy, strategy and sourcing in one office; ensuring a consistent approach to procurement across the public service; strengthening spend analytics and data management; much greater aggregation of purchasing across public bodies to achieve better value for money; examining the specifications set out for goods and services; evaluating demand levels to assess how demand and volume can be reduced; and strengthening supplier and category management.
The Office of Government Procurement is engaged in changing the administration of procurement throughout the public service. Currently public service procurement activity is transacted by several hundred contracting authorities throughout the State. The Office of Government Procurement together with reformed sector procurement functions in Health, Education, Local Government and Defence will enable the public service to speak with one 'voice' to the market for each category of expenditure, ensuring a consistent approach to procurement across the public service.
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