Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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77. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her plans to ensure the services provided and the ethos of the local employment services scheme are preserved; her views on whether current EU directives mean such services must be competitively tendered out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26213/21]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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As part of an overall expansion of employment services, my Department will shortly issue a Request for Tender (RFT) to expand local employment type services into some geographical areas where a Local Employment Service does not currently exist.

Separately, the current contracts for existing contracted Public Employment Service provision will expire at the end of 2021. These contracts have been in place in many cases for over 20 years with no formal procurement being undertaken in that period. This is not in compliance with the requirements of good governance or proper procurement. My Department intends to go out to procure sufficient high-quality employment services in a manner that is compatible with EU and national procurement rules.

This is in line with detailed legal advice obtained by my Department that these employment services must be procured though open competitive procurement processes in line with EU and national procurement rules. This advice is unequivocal and ignoring it would likely expose my Department to legal challenge.

I have instructed my officials to ensure that while complying with procurement law no barriers are placed in the way of local development companies or other non-profit entities on submitting viable tenders for employment services. The requests for tenders will include a strong focus on quality of services directed at clients, particularly the long-term unemployed. There will be ample opportunity for tenderers to demonstrate the quality services they can provide to those furthest from the labour market. In particular, while cost will be a factor to be considered, the primary evaluation criteria relate to service quality including community engagement. The RFT is designed to ensure that a bidder cannot secure an advantage by submitting unrealistically low pricing. It is expected that the tender will prove attractive to local community-based organisations, including the Local Development Companies.

Organisations with strong experience in the delivery of similar services at a community and local level will be in a strong position to respond to the RFTs when they issue.