Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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91. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform further to Parliamentary Question No. 92 of 2 July 2015, the reason a company (details supplied) which recently terminated its contract for the supply of stationery and office supplies to the Open Government Partnership Group 4 Sector, that is central Government, local authorities and schools, has now been awarded a new contract by the education procurement service; the way the reasons cited by the company for withdrawing from the original contract have been dealt with; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33586/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The tender referred to was administered by the Education Procurement Service who also awarded the contract for a 12 month period. The contract covers schools and ETBs but not the other segments of the original Group 4 lot. The contract was awarded by way of an open tender procedure under the EU Procurement Directives. This tender process was entirely independent from the central arrangements established by the OGP. The details of the competition run by the Education Procurement Service are a matter for that Contracting Authority. Any further queries in relation to that process are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills who has responsibility for the Education Procurement Service.

The OGP is at an advanced stage of planning a tender process for a new office supplies framework which will be structured in a manner that addresses the issues highlighted by the existing national framework. At this point, it would be inappropriate to comment in relation to the mechanism by which the issues which arose under one lot of the previous framework will be addressed.