Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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99. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when he might expect a review of the public procurement contract process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24384/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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As the Deputy may be aware, Ireland is required to transpose a suite of three new procurement Directives. On 28 March, 2014, the European Commission published three new Directives as a collective reform of the existing EU regime for public procurement under the existing provisions of Directive 2004/17/EU - coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and Directive 2004/18/EU - on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts.

The three new Directives, including the Directive referred to by the Deputy are:

- 2014/23/EU - on the award of concession contracts

- 2014/24/EU- on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EU

- 2014/25/EU - on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC

The three Directives require to be transposed into national law by all EU Member States by April 2016.  In this regard, the Office of Government Procurement, which is under the aegis of my Department, is progressing the process of transposition into Irish law. The criteria for the award of contract will be based on the provisions in the Statutory Instrument that implements each Directive into national law and they will be applied in accordance with the subject matter or nature of the contract.

A Report on the performance of the Public Works Contract was published on 11 December last year. It contains 4 interim recommendations and a framework for a medium term strategy to inform engagement between industry stakeholders. Engagement with industry stakeholders is underway on the interim recommendations and the three recommendations which amend the conditions of contract will be implemented by the middle of this year. The recommendation relating to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) award for works contracts will be implemented later this year upon publication of robust criteria and guidance material. Broader engagement on the procurement of public projects will be ongoing with industry stakeholders throughout 2015. They will be invited to contribute to a medium-term strategy which will encompass procurement and recent developments in the fields of technology and legislation governing the construction industry. Key areas such as performance evaluation, risk management and different contracting strategies will also be considered as part of the strategy with recommendations to be put to Government before the end of this year. A copy of the report is available to download from the construction Procurement Reform website:  .