Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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113. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the detail of the procedures for tendering outlined in the new guidelines for public procurement for goods and services published in July 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40635/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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My colleague, Minister of State Patrick O'Donovan, launched the new Public Procurement Guidelines for Goods and Services in July.  The purpose of these guidelines is to promote best practice and consistency of application of the public procurement rules in relation to the purchase of goods and services.  The guidelines are published on the OGP website @ www.ogp.gov.ie.

Public Procurement is governed by well-established EU and National rules and guidelines. 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 Directives on public procurement require that public works, supplies and service contracts above certain thresholds (exclusive of VAT) must be advertised on the Official Journal of the EU and awarded on the basis of objective and non-restrictive criteria. For works contracts, the threshold is €5.225 million; for supplies and service contracts awarded by Government Departments, the threshold is €135,000 and for the remainder of public bodies, the threshold is €209,000.  The new EU Directives also introduced a simplified award regime (a “light-touch” regime) for certain services, notably health, social, educational and cultural services where the threshold is €750,000.  

In relation to tendering procedures, there are six types potentially available to contracting authorities in awarding contracts.  the Open Procedure; the Restricted Procedure, the Competitive Dialogue procedure; the Competitive Procedure with Negotiation procedure; the Innovation Partnership procedure; and the Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication procedure.  The choice of procedure will vary depending on the nature and circumstances of each contract.  The Open Procedure is the most commonly used procedure.

For contracts or purchases below the EU threshold levels, the following national guidelines apply:

- contracts for goods and services with an estimated value of less than €5,000 (exclusive of VAT) to be awarded on the basis of  verbal quotes from one or more competitive suppliers (best practice is to seek a minimum of 3 quotes confirmed by e-mail);

- contracts for goods and services with an estimated value between €5,000 and €25,000 (exclusive of VAT)  to be awarded on the basis of responses to written specifications (e.g. sent by email) to at least three suppliers or service providers;

- contracts for goods and or services, with an estimated value of €25,000 (exclusive of VAT) and up to the value of the EU thresholds should normally be advertised as part of a formal tendering process on eTenders using the Open Procedure in line with DPER Circular 10/14.

Full details of public procurement procedures (both EU  and National) can be found in the guidelines.