Written answers

Thursday, 24 November 2016

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Public Procurement Regulations

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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16. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on applying spending sustainably to the public sector, that is, adding sustainability criteria as part of the public sector tendering process (details supplied). [36560/16]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Public Procurement is governed by the EU Treaty, EU Directives, Regulations and national guidelines. These set down rules whereby contracting authorities must award contracts under procedures designed to achieve value for public money in an open, transparent and non discriminatory competitive process.  In addition to achieving value for money, the Government is also keen to explore the scope for supporting wider policy objectives including the use of social and environmental sustainability clauses in public contracts.

The Deputy may be aware that the revised EU Directives governing public procurement were transposed into Irish law last May. There is now greater scope and legal clarity in relation to the use of social and environmental criteria.  These criteria can be inserted at relevant stages in the procurement process including the award criteria provided that they are linked to the subject matter of the contract and are contract specific.

The inclusion of environmental clauses in the procurement process is most suited to situations where the benefit could be considered a core requirement and can be directly linked to the contracting authority's policy or strategic plan. A further consideration is the ability of contracting authorities to effectively monitor compliance with the social or environmental clause.

However, while the Government is keen to explore the potential for including social and environmental clauses in public contracts, it should be noted that these are complex considerations.  Account must also be taken to ensure that value for money is not adversely affected, additional costs are not placed on domestic suppliers relative to other potential suppliers, contracts are of a minimum scale to absorb the increased administrative requirements, and the targeted benefit is capable of being measured and monitored during the execution of the contract.  In this context also, care must be taken not to disproportionately impact on SME's bidding for public contracts.

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