Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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378. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 329 and 331 of 24 June 2025, to the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, which confirmed that responsibility for analysing collapsed or re-run procurement competitions rests with individual contracting authorities, if his Department has estimated or recorded the number of procurement competitions since 2019 that did not result in a contract award due to insufficient submissions, legal challenges, disqualification of bidders, or internal cancellation, recorded or estimated the administrative or financial cost associated with collapsed or re-run procurement competitions during the same period and undertaken any analysis on the underlying reasons for failed competitions and the extent to which outcomes might be improved through better planning, clearer specifications, earlier market engagement, or other procurement reforms; and if not, if his Department will now consider putting in place such monitoring systems, in light of the administrative cost and service delays associated with failed procurement procedures. [40395/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department operates a decentralised procurement model where procurement activity is the responsibility of the budget holder, who is usually the head of the business unit. My Department does not hold a central list of procurement competitions that did not result in a contract award due to insufficient submissions, legal challenges, disqualification of bidders, or internal cancellation.

Heads of business units are responsible for monitoring procurement exercises and ensuring compliance with my Department's Procurement Policy. The policy promotes transparent and efficient processes and calls for timely, transparent and systematic planning. Where available, my Department also minimizes administrative or financial costs through the use of Office of Government Procurement resources such as guidelines, templates, and central buying arrangements.

My Department has an internal audit function with the role of independently examining the controls and systems in place, and reporting to Management, the Secretary General and the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee is independent and objective in the performance of its functions, providing advice and guidance on a broad range of areas including financial management processes and reporting.