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The Government has introduced sweeping changes for public
bodies and state agencies agreeing work and service contracts
with private companies, following a probe of its procurement
operations.
A range of reforms to public procurement rules are outlined
in a circular, seen by The Sunday Business Post, which
was issued by the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, to
all departments on August 13.
A range of measures is required to ensure that firms are
not hindered in competing for government contracts - which
are worth €15 billion - and are a major source of income for
small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These include a prohibition
on public bodies entering into special arrangements that require
SMEs to pay to access competition for public contracts.
The threshold for supplies and general services contracts
on the government’s public procurement website - www.etenders.ie
- has been halved from €50,000 to €25,000.
In a move to more open tendering, pre-qualification rules
- requiring companies to show that they meet certain requirements
before they can submit tenders - have also been eased. All
advertised contracts up to €250,000 for works and €120,000
for supplies and general services must now be open to all
potential tenderers without a prequalification process.
Evidence such as bank statements, audited accounts and proof
of professional indemnity will now be sought only when a tenderer
is close to being awarded a contract. This 'will reduce
the amount of paperwork involved in submitting tenders, considerably
easing the level of administrative burden on business bidding
for public contracts', according to the circular.
Ireland awards 17.7 per cent of all government contracts
to non-domestic companies - while the EU average is just 1.49
per cent. SMEs have lobbied for government contracts to be
unbundled into smaller contracts to allow more Irish companies
compete.
The guidelines outline measures which include 'dividing
contracts into smaller lots where feasible'.
Source - The Sunday Business Post
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