Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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224. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding State procurement policy regarding office supplies and stationery provision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42621/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The OGP is at an advanced stage of planning a tender process for a new office supplies framework agreement to be delivered in Q1 2016. As part of the planning process a review of the existing office supplies framework has been completed, which included engagement with the wider office supplies market.  It is expected that the new framework will be structured in a manner that addresses the issues highlighted by the existing framework while remaining compliant with all EU Procurement legislation, national guidelines and Circular 10/14.  Circular 10/14 includes a number of policy measures which are specifically designed to enable SMEs to compete for government business, such as open tendering, electronic notifications and tendering through the national tendering platform for contracts in excess of €25,000, division of contracts into lots, guidance on turnover requirements and reasonable insurance requirements.

It is planned that once the strategy for the new framework has been finalised it will be communicated to both OGP clients and the market.