Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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813. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details of contracts of €25,000 or more that have been awarded by his Department or bodies under his aegis that were found to be non-compliant with procurement guidelines in 2017, 2018 and to date in 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45056/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In line with the requirements of Department of Finance Circular 40/2002, each year my Department carries out an assessment of contracts with a value above €25,000 that were awarded in the preceding year without a competitive process, and submits a report to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) by 31 March. Accordingly, the information sought in respect of 2019 is not yet available but I will make it available to the Deputy in due course. The position in relation to 2017 and 2018 is set out below.

In 2017, my Department procured just under €100 million worth of goods, services and works of which 38 contracts with a value of €5,697,117.74 was declared non-compliant, comprised as follows:

- 13 contracts with a value of €825,995.73 were undertaken in the area of food safety and animal/plant health & animal welfare and relate to the purchase of proprietary laboratory consumables across my Department's Laboratory Complex;

- 7 contracts with a value of €354,968.39 were undertaken in the area of food safety and animal welfare and relate to testing and the provision of relief staff;

- 3 contracts with a value of €182,980.83 relate to canteen service, printing of export certificates and conferencing facilities;

- 6 contracts with a value of €1,731,879.75 relate to the provision of datalinks, telephony, mobile voice and data services;

- 1 contract with a value of €2,196,207.82 relates to the provision of storage services for intervention stocks;

- 2 contracts with a value of €74,683.87 relate to the emergency removal of waste water in a Fishery Harbour Centre;

- 3 contracts with a value of €184,301.65 relate to the provision of electrical services, hardware supplies and equipment hire in Fishery Harbour Centres;

- 2 contracts with a value of €107,882.26 relate to local purchases of hardware supplies;

- 1 contract with a value of €38,217.44 relates to aggregate expenditure on fuel card services.

In 2018, my Department procured just over €105 million worth of goods, services and works of which 47 contracts with a value of €3,902,538.80 was declared non-compliant, comprised as follows:

- 4 contracts with a value of €301,590,43 relate to plant hire, equipment hire and consultancy services in the Fishery Harbour Centres;

- 37 contracts with a value of €3,226,454.96 relate to the procurement of proprietary laboratory supplies, proprietary maintenance and servicing of laboratory instruments, and laboratory testing undertaken across the areas of food safety and animal/plant health & animal welfare;

- 5 contracts with a value of €322,522.11 were undertaken in the area of IMT;

- 1 contract with a value of €51,971.30 relates to the provision of relief staff.

As regards the twelve State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information requested is an operational matter for the State Bodies themselves. I have referred the Deputy’s question to the Agencies and have requested that a response should issue within 10 days.

While my Department is making headway in addressing non-compliance with a reduction of €1.795 million evident between 2017 and 2018, it aims to redouble these efforts in the coming year to ensure there is an appropriate focus on good practice in procurement and that procedures are in place to improve compliance with relevant guidelines and legislation.