Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

324. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the supports that are available in assisting small and medium-sized enterprises in applying for Government procurement contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20066/15]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

327. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of small and medium-sized enterprises that can be better equipped to compete against European Union companies for Government contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20069/15]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

328. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there are ways small and medium-sized enterprises can be better equipped to compete against European Union companies for Government contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20070/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 324, 327 and 328 together.

The reform of the public procurement infrastructure is a key element of the reform programme for the public service. This reform enables public service organisations deliver much needed services within the tighter budgets that they must now operate. The Government acknowledges, however, 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 this regard my Department issued Circular 10/14 in 2014 aimed at opening up opportunities for small businesses that want to tender for public contracts and also to ensure that engaging with public procurement is easy and low cost. This guidance set out positive measures that contracting authorities should take to promote the involvement of smaller enterprises and highlights practices that are to be avoided which may hinder small businesses in competing for public contracts.

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 to 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 the circular puts limits on insurance levels for suppliers where possible;

- it 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; and,

- 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.

In addition, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) which falls under the remit of my Department, works with the various industry representative bodies (including ISME, IBEC, SFA, Chambers Ireland, and CIF) to promote the engagement of Irish business in public procurement as well as with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, InterTrade Ireland, and Enterprise Ireland. Last year, for example, the OGP supported two "Meet the Buyer" events in Belfast and Dublin which were attended by over 1,100 suppliers. The OGP also supported the 'Go 2 Tender' programme run by InterTrade Ireland which was attended by approximately 400 SME's. This year InterTrade Ireland also delivered a programme on consortia building to assist SME's to jointly bid for state contracts. 

In relation to SME participation in public procurement, recent analysis carried out by the OGP indicates that 93% of government procurement expenditure falls within the State and that 66% of this is directly with Irish SMEs.  

The OGP will continue to work with suppliers and business representatives on behalf of Government to ensure that winning government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and to ensure that public procurement policies are business friendly. 

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

325. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of small and medium sized enterprises that applied for Government procurement contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20067/15]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

326. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of small and medium sized enterprises that were successful in their applications for Government procurement contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20068/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 325 and 326 together.

It is the responsibility of individual contracting authorities to publish tender notices and contract award notices. In 2013, public service and semi-state bodies published 5,826 tender notices. This process is facilitated through the national eProcurement portal . This portal is the Irish Government's public platform for advertising public sector procurement tenders. Contracting authorities can use this portal to receive responses electronically from suppliers. However, a large proportion of tender responses are submitted in hard copy and it is not possible to accurately report on the number of bids for all tender notices published. Responses in hardcopy are requested where exhibits and sample material is required by contracting authorities for evaluation purposes.

The eTenders system is also used to automatically send out e-notifications of tender notices published on the system to registered suppliers who have expressed an interest in the particular type of goods, services or works required in the tender notice. This is driven using the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes of the European Commission. The system also incorporates a Supplier Register that holds company information as entered by each supplier. Historically many suppliers have registered their company multiple times and often provided incorrect business profiles. While significant progress was made during 2014 in cleaning up supplier data on the etenders system, the work is still on-going and there is insufficient current information available to report on tendering activity by supplier classification such as small and medium sized enterprises.

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP), which commenced sourcing operations in 2014, has a clear remit to deliver sustainable savings for the taxpayer through centralising procurement across the public service and encouraging SMEs to fully engage in public procurement. In this context, the OGP chairs an SME stakeholder group which includes representatives from a range of groups and organisations that represent SMEs in Ireland. The Office is working with these government agencies and industry representative bodies in developing and implementing policy initiatives, and in driving supplier education and awareness.

The OGP published a Public Service Spend and Tendering Analysis report in March 2015. This report as the first of its kind for the public service, analysed €2.742 billion of non-pay expenditure data from the Health, Justice, Local Government and Education sectors for 2013 representing a significant portion of overall procurement expenditure for that year. For the first time, we have a view as to how and with whom that money was spent and the analysis is very encouraging. The data analysed indicates that 93% of the State s invoiced expenditure is with firms within the State and that 66% of the State s expenditure is with SMEs.