Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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31. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is satisfied that the system of awarding public contracts allows indigenous Irish companies fair opportunity in the tender process; if he has planned any particular initiatives that will help improve access for Irish companies to bid and be awarded public contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42063/14]

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.

The Government acknowledges the significant role that SMEs play in the Irish economy and is committed to ensuring that SMEs are fully engaged with public sector procurement and the opportunities presenting. 

In April of this year my Department reviewed and updated existing guidelines and procedures aimed at promoting SME participation in public procurement.  Circular 10/14 was issued and sets out new initiatives aimed at opening up opportunities for small businesses that want to tender for public contracts and also to ensure that engaging with government procurement is easy and low cost.  The main thrust of the circular is as follows

- buyers are advised to undertake market analysis prior to tendering in order to better understand the range of goods and services on offer, the competitive landscape, including the specific capabilities of SMEs, etc.

- the circular promotes transparency in procurement by requiring supplies and general services contracts with an estimated value of €25,000 be advertised on the Government's electronic tendering portal, e-Tenders,

- it encourages suppliers including SMEs to fully use e-Tenders and avail of its facilities in relation to registration, e-tendering and automatic alerts in relation to future tendering opportunities

- buyers are encouraged not to set turnover thresholds at more than twice the estimated contract value and puts limits on insurance levels for suppliers, where possible

- promotes greater use of "open" tendering and less use of "restrictive" tendering

- it  encourages SMEs to consider using consortia where they are not of sufficient scale to tender in their own right or where they may lack certain capabilities necessary to provide a compelling proposition

- it encourages Contracting Authorities to break large contracts down into lots where reasonable to do so and where it does not expose the State to undue risk or significant management overheads.

The SME Working Group, established under the Government's Action Plan for Jobs, was consulted on the new Guidelines.  The new Circular has been broadly welcomed by industry representative associations.

The Office of Government Procurement also supports the work of Enterprise Ireland and InterTrade Ireland in building awareness of public procurement and supporting training for small suppliers in bidding for public contracts.  The OGP for example supported two "Meet the Buyer" events in Belfast and Dublin last year attended by approximately 1,000 suppliers. Approximately 1,700 are expected to attend similar events this year.  In addition, the OGP supported the "Go 2 Tender" programme run by InterTrade Ireland which was attended by 317 SMEs last year.

This year InterTrade Ireland are also delivering a programme on Consortia Building to assist SMEs in developing understanding to enable them to jointly bid for state contracts.

The reform of public procurement across the public service is on-going and will continue to provide opportunities to the SME sector to win business.  The Office of Government Procurement will continue to work with industry to ensure that winning government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and to ensure that government procurement policies are business friendly.