Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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364. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to improve public procurement practice; the improvements that have been put in place since 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25842/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government includes a commitment to reviewing the public procurement process to make it more transparent and work to ensure greater participation from SMEs. Working towards this aim, and to set out the strategic direction of public procurement for the next five years, my Department is developing a first National Public Procurement Strategy. On 25 March, the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), which operates as a division of my Department, launched a public consultation to inform the strategy.

The ambition of the strategy will be to improve the lives of the people of Ireland through the delivery of strategic, innovative, sustainable and transparent public procurement that supports competition and value for money.

Significant groundwork has already been undertaken. In June 2024, my Department published a policy statement: developing a new public procurement strategy for Ireland. In September 2024, in partnership with the European Commission, my Department ran a national ‘strategic dialogue’ workshop on the use of green, socially responsible and innovation public procurement. The output of this dialogue was the publication of a roadmap towards a National Public Procurement Strategy.

In parallel with measures I am taking in the development of a national public procurement strategy, the EU Commission has launched a programme of review of the current EU procurement regime. Ireland’s procurement legislation is prescribed by EU Directives covering public procurement procedures. These Directives have been transposed into national law via corresponding Statutory Instruments. Since the end of 2024 the European Commission has initiated a comprehensive review of the current public procurement Directives, excluding the Defence and Security Directive. One of the key areas for the review is transparency and integrity, along with competition and simplification. The OGP is fully engaged with the EU Commission in the review and are consulting on the Commission-led review with procurement practitioners and policy makers on a whole-of-Government basis. My Department has been very active, in concert with other Member States, in engaging with the ambitious programme of revision set out by the Commission.

Since 2020, my Department has issued two key public procurement policy circulars. Circular 05/2023: Initiatives to assist SMEs in Public Procurement, this circular is designed to further enable SMEs in competing for public contracts and highlights the positive measures that contracting authorities can take to promote SME participation in public sector procurement.

Circular 09/2024: Reporting on the Use of Centralised Procurement Arrangements builds on policies previously set out in Circular 16/2013: Revision of Arrangements Concerning the Use of Central Contracts. Together, these circulars inform public bodies of the importance of maximising the value for money achievable when procuring commonly acquired goods or services. An annual reporting requirement relating to the use of centralised procurement arrangements is set out, including the requirement to provide concise reason(s) for not availing of a centralised procurement arrangement, where one existed.

My Department has also made significant progress promoting the implementation of green public procurement practices. The OGP launched the online ‘GPP Criteria Search’ tool in 2022 to further assist public buyers in selecting appropriate national green procurement criteria which have been developed by the Environmental Protection Agency.