Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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105. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his Department's plans in relation to encouraging the implementation of social and green clauses in public procurement contracts across the State; and if he will provide an example of the action his Department has taken to increase the use of these clauses. [48207/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In 2019, my Department published Circular 20/2019: Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement. This Circular instructs Departments to consider including green criteria in public procurement processes where clearly defined, quantifiable, verifiable, and measurable criteria have been developed, and the cost can be met within a Department’s existing budget without impacting on service delivery. It further requires Departments to incorporate relevant green procurement measures into their planning and reporting cycles, and highlights the possibilities for Departments to deliver wider social and environmental aims through public procurement.

Since publication of that Circular, there has been increased collaboration between my officials in the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), and a number of other Departments to encourage the implementation of social and green clauses in public procurement contracts across the State. The OGP chairs a Strategic Procurement Advisory Group to bring together the main sectoral Central Purchasing Bodies (CPBs) and key policy Departments with an interest in utilising public procurement to address national social and environmental strategies.

In 2021, the OGP and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications (DECC) jointly established an environmental subgroup of the Strategic Procurement Advisory Group, to further facilitate discussion across CPBs and relevant Departments and Agencies on approaches to incorporate environmental considerations into procurement. In 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) updated its ‘Green Public Procurement - Guidance for the Public Sector’. This was accompanied by defined, quantifiable, verifiable, and measurable green criteria for 10 sectors. The OGP, DECC, and EPA have extensively promoted use of these criteria in public procurement. As a specific example of an action taken by the OGP to increase the use of these green criteria, this year the OGP has led on the development of ‘GPP Criteria Search’ – an online search tool that allows the user rapidly to find, select, and download green public procurement (GPP) criteria relevant to specific procurement projects. This will be launched at the OGP Client Conference in November.

The OGP and its partner CPBs are increasingly incorporating social and green clauses into centralised purchasing arrangements that can be utilised by contracting authorities across the State.