Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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23. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the measures in place to enable Irish SMEs to compete fairly for public procurement contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3428/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Public Procurement is governed by EU and National rules. The aim of these rules is to promote an open, competitive and non-discriminatory public procurement regime which delivers best value for money.

The EU Procurement Directives, transposed into Irish law in May 2016, are intended to make it easier for SMEs to tender for public procurement contracts.  Specific measures aimed at facilitating SME participation include the following:

- there is explicit provision for prior discussion with suppliers and independent experts, with safeguards against distorting competition or violating transparency and non-discrimination principles;

- financial capacity criterion is less demanding and generally limited to twice the contract value;

- there is discretion to divide public contracts into lots;

- there is a provision for "consortia bidding" to encourage SME involvement; and

- there are reductions in the time limits for receipt of tenders;

The Government had accelerated a number of these measures into policy in Ireland by way of Circular 10/14, which issued in April 2014.

My colleague, Minister of State Eoghan Murphy, chairs an SME Advisory Group which meets quarterly and seeks to enhance the measures already in place to support SME access.  This group comprises of SME industry representative bodies (IBEC, ISME, SFA, Chambers Ireland, and CIF) as well as the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, InterTrade Ireland and Enterprise Ireland (EI). 

Some of the measures aimed at facilitating SME access to public procurement include events organised by InterTrade Ireland and supported by the OGP and EI.  In 2016, for example, there were thirteen "Go-2-Tender" workshops attended by 179 businesses.  There were also two "Meet the Buyer" events, in Belfast in June and a new Regional/Opportunity driven approach was piloted in Cork in October, attended by over 900 businesses and buyers from across the public sector, North and South.  Similar events are planned for 2017.  

In conclusion, the reform of public procurement across the public service is on-going and will continue to provide opportunities to the SME sector to win business.  The OGP will continue to work with industry to ensure that winning government business is done in a fair, transparent and accessible way and to ensure that government procurement policies are business friendly.