Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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739. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department monitors the outcomes of mini-competitions under framework agreements to ensure that no individual supplier is consistently awarded contracts to the exclusion of others, and if any analysis is conducted on whether frameworks are delivering the intended level of competition. [55007/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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In line with Government policy, my Department prioritises the use of central arrangements (including frameworks) where suitable. My Department avails of frameworks put in place by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) and the Education Procurement Service (EPS). My Department currently does not have any of its own frameworks with a mini-competition award mechanism in place.

As these frameworks are put in place by the OGP and/or the EPS, my Department does not have oversight relating to all contracts awarded.

Mini-competitions run under the frameworks on behalf of my Department are evaluated in accordance with the methodology set out in the tender document templates. This ensures that tender submissions are evaluated in a fair and consistent manner.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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740. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will detail the way in which sustainability criteria included in framework tender documentation are evaluated in practice during mini-competitions; and the assurance that exists that such criteria are applied consistently and transparently across competitions. [55008/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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In line with Government policy, my Department prioritises the use of central arrangements (including frameworks) where suitable. My Department avails of frameworks put in place by the OGP (Office of Government Procurement) and the EPS (Education Procurement Service).

When using such frameworks and where environmental and social considerations are in scope, tenderers are required to describe their approach to sustainability in the tender documents providing clear and comprehensive details that demonstrate an understanding of my Department’s requirements relating to the following:

• Environmental considerations linked to the subject matter;
• Social considerations linked to the subject matter.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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741. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there are any technical, legal, operational, or policy constraints preventing his Department, when publishing quarterly reports of payments or purchase orders over €20,000, from including additional columns that link each payment to its underlying procurement process specifically tender/contract title; name and address of the awarded contractor/supplier; contract award date; contract duration; expected contract value (excl. VAT); maximum contract value (excl. VAT); the unique identifier from the relevant contract award notice; and where such constraints exist, to provide details explaining his Department’s current process for reconciling each reported payment with the corresponding published contract award notice on eTenders. [55051/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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My Department publishes a quarterly report on the Purchase Orders over €20,000 in line with the requirements under the Freedom of Information Act 2014. The details of the report are taken from my Department’s electronic records of payments made in that quarter. This information is recorded on a financial management system (FMS) operated by SAP, a multinational software company. Some information, e.g. addresses of individuals is not published as this would breach GDPR protocols.

In line with Circular 05/2023 (Initiatives to assist SMEs in Public Procurement), my Department also publishes contract award information for all procurements over €25,000 (exclusive of VAT), including any contract awarded under a Framework Agreement. This is published on the eTenders website on completion of the award regardless of whether the procurement was advertised on eTenders or not.

For tenders above the relevant EU thresholds, a Contract Award Notice must be published.

For tenders between €25,000 (exclusive of VAT) and the EU thresholds, a separate notice on eTenders is created. Detail of such contract are available on the eTenders platform. The eTenders platform is maintained by European Dynamics, who were awarded the contract to provide this service by the Office of Government Procurement.

My Department does not reconcile reported payments with the corresponding published contract award notice on eTenders.