Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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74. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the details of consultancy services, value for money and policy review expenses incurred by his Department as at 31 December 2017. [21891/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The table outlines the amount paid to consultancy firms by my Department during 2017. My Department ensures that every effort is made to limit the use of consultancy where possible. It should be noted that the complex nature of the Department’s work in recent years in leading major reform programmes, such as the roll-out of shared services by the National Shared Services Office or the transformation of the central procurement function under the Office of Government Procurement, means that it is necessary for the Department to bring in external expertise from time to time. All contracts are negotiated with a view to achieving best value for money and are kept under review to ensure this is maintained. When the use of consultants is unavoidable, the staff in my Department ensure appropriate skills transfer to reduce the requirement for consultants going forward.

My Department actively ensures that funds appropriated to it by Dáil Éireann are spent in a manner that supports the achievement of the best possible value-for-money. Consequently, each Division in my Department examines and reviews capital, consultancy and information technology project expenditure on a regular basis. This process is formalised through the collation of bi-annual value for money reports on such projects.

OGCIO - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer

OGP - Office of Government Procurement

NSSO - National Shared Services Office