Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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395. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department maintains any centralised data on the number, value, or type of post-award contract variations approved by contracting authorities across the public service in each of the past five years; and if not, whether contracting authorities are required to report such variations to the Department or the Office of Government Procurement. [60932/25]

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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396. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his Department has ever conducted analysis of post-award contract variations to identify trends, such as which categories of procurement, by CPV code or sector; and those most prone to variations, or which types of projects carry the greatest risk of scope change or cost escalation. [60933/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 395 and 396 together.

My Department has no role in the audit and scrutiny of the procurement practices of public sector bodies. Individual Accounting Officers are responsible for ensuring that their public procurement functions are discharged in line with the standard accounting and procurement rules and procedures and are publicly accountable for expenditure incurred. Individual contracting authorities are responsible for establishing arrangements for ensuring the proper conduct of their affairs, including conformance to standards of good governance and accountability with regard to procurement.

The legal code in respect of contract modifications to public contracts following the award of contract is set out in Regulation 72 of S.I. No. 284/2016 - European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016. This regulation describes the circumstances in which contract modifications are permitted, the rules governing modifications and the obligations on Contracting Authorities who modify public contracts.

The Deputy should note, where the value of permitted modifications does not exceed the EU thresholds for publication and does not exceed 10% (services/supplies) or 15% (works) of the initial contract value, there is no obligation in EU law to publish a Contract Modification Notice. Where permitted contact modifications that exceed this threshold, a Contract Modification Notice must be published in the Official Journal of the European Union. As the Deputy is aware, any move to impose more stringent or excessive rules to those already existing in EU Law is looked at unfavourably by the European Commission.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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397. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the number and value of contracts that underwent post-award variations; the net value change as a percentage of original awards, by CPV/category; and the three most common drivers of variation identified, for 2022–2024. [60947/25]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy is set out in the table below.