Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1410. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the amount of expenditure on consultancy by her Department in each of the years 2015 to 2017; the number of consultants engaged by her Department in those years; the names of the consultancy companies awarded contracts; and the steps which have been taken to reduce the expenditure on consultancy and the reliance on consultants by her Department in these years and for the future. [15200/18]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The procurement of services is essential to support the Department in providing a high quality service to the public in a cost effective and efficient manner and is governed by a comprehensive regulatory, legal and procedural framework.

The Department is engaged in a number of service delivery modernisation and transformation programmes involving business process, organisational and technological change. These programmes are supported by the procurement of external consultants to provide advice, and the separate engagement of external development services (IT external service provision).

The procurement of external consultancy services is essential to support the Department in meeting its objectives. Where required, external consultants are engaged for a fixed period following procurement exercises conducted in accordance with Department procedures that are compliant with EU and national legislation and with guidelines set down by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

A breakdown of annual expenditure on consultancy and IT external service provision, and a list of purchase orders for €20,000 and above, are published on the Procurement Policy page of Department’s website www.welfare.ie. In addition, in accordance with FOI legislation with effect from January 2016, details of public contracts awarded over €25,000 are also available on www.welfare.ie. Details of expenditure on consultancy for the years 2015 to 2017 are set in the tables below.

My Department closely monitors expenditure on consultancy and it is kept to a minimum. All procurements under Consultancy Expenditure must be approved by the Department’s Project Governance Committee prior to tendering for the service. In 2017, expenditure on consultancy increased due to the legislative requirements to undertake an actuarial review of the Social Inclusion Fund, a commitment to the Oireachtas to undertake an independent review of the Amendments to the One Parent Family scheme, and work undertaken to ensure compliance with the forthcoming data protection regulation.

During the period 2015 – 2017 the engagement of external consultants was necessary in order to provide valuable support for the Department’s service delivery modernisation and transformation programmes. The procurement of external consultants was undertaken in compliance with best practice and achieving best value for money. My Department will continue to procure external consultants, where essential, who work in tandem with staff of my Department to ensure that the highest standard of customer service is delivered.

2017