Written answers

Tuesday, 11 July 2017

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform

Public Procurement Regulations

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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171. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the measures his Department has implemented to support SMEs in accessing the public procurement market; the steps that have been taken to allow Government bodies access procurement locally as promised in the programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32444/17]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal 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 the best value for money. It would be a breach of the EU rules for a public body to favour particular candidates on grounds such as organisation size, locality, nationality, etc. and there are legal remedies which may be used against any public body infringing these rules.

Meetings of the SME Advisory Group take place on a quarterly basis to address industry concerns. This group includes representatives of the Office of Government Procurement, Dept. of Enterprise and Innovation, Intertrade Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, IBEC, ISME, SFA, CIF and Chambers Ireland and is chaired at Minister of State level. There has been regular proactive engagement with SME Representative Bodies through this Group. A Communications Strategy subgroup has also been established to help increase awareness of potential opportunities and supports available for SMEs.

Members of the Oireachtas were briefed on Public Procurement in Leinster House last December by the then Minister for State Murphy and members of the Office of Government Procurement. In addition, regional public procurement briefings on SME access were held in February and May Cork, Galway, Louth and Cavan. A further briefing is taking place in Limerick today.

The OGP takes a balanced approach to delivering value for the taxpayer and supports SME access to public procurement as set out in Circular 10/14 - Initiatives to assist SMEs in Public Procurement - including by:

- Undertaking market analysis prior to tendering in order to better understand the range of goods and services on offer; market developments and innovation; what commercial models are available; the competitive landscape; and the specific capabilities of SMEs etc.

- Setting proportionate eligibility requirements, for example insurance and turnover, to support SME participation

- Breaking tendering competitions into smaller lots (for example, by sector, region, value etc.) where possible, to actively encourage SME participation and to align with the capacity and capability of the marketplace

- Actively engaging in a range of events to help foster awareness of and to encourage engagement in the public procurement process

- Supporting supplier awareness of eTenders, the national tendering platform (etenders.gov.ie)

Minister of State O’Donovan will be considering appropriate refinements to enhance the significant measures already in place to support SME access taking account of the lessons learned to date in the procurement reform programme and feedback received through the SME Advisory Group and the regional briefings.

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