Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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250. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number of staff members employed in the Office of Government Procurement tendering advice service; and the cost of wages in 2019. [30282/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As outlined in the Tender Advisory Service Information Note available at , which was published in July 2018, the Tender Advisory Service (TAS) is an informal outlet, provided free of charge, to suppliers in order to raise queries in relation to a live tender process carried out by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) or other public sector contracting bodies where the bidder is not satisfied with the response from the contracting authority.

There are no staff in the OGP solely dedicated to the Tender Advisory Service. TAS responsibility is integrated into the work of certain personnel in the Office. In 2019, one Higher Executive Officer was responsible, in addition to other duties, for responding to TAS queries, with oversight from an Assistant Principal Officer. The combined salary for the two officers in 2019 was €126,819.