Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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1096. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the details of contracts of €25,000 or more that have been awarded by her Department or bodies under her aegis that were found to be non-compliant with procurement guidelines in 2018, 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021; the value and nature of the contact work carried out in each case; the year of each contract, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11383/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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All procurement within my Department takes place in the context of national procurement guidance, and national and EU requirements and regulations. My Department has not awarded any contracts over €25,000 (excluding VAT) which were found to be non-compliant with these requirements over the period 1 January 2018 to-date.

I would note that during this period there have been two contracts over €25,000 (excluding VAT) awarded through direct award, where a competitive tender process was not conducted, but these were in compliance with exemptions permitted. I have set out, for the sake of completeness, details of these contracts which were not subject to a competitive process, but were in full compliance with procurement guidelines.

With regard to the four bodies under the aegis of my Department, (Pobal, Water Safety Ireland, The Charities Regulator and the Western Development Commission), day to day operational matters, including contract award and compliance with procurement requirements are matters for the individual agencies concerned. The procedures for procurement by State Bodies are set out in the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies and, in accordance with this Code of Practice, it is the responsibility of each Board to satisfy itself that public procurement requirements are adhered to.

In line with these responsibilities I have asked my officials to contact the agencies to provide you with the information requested by separate cover, within the next ten working days. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.