This morning (17-Oct-2014) in the Dáil Simon Harris, Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure with responsibility for Public Procurement, took a debate on the effective use of social clauses in Public Procurement.
Public Procurement accounts for €8.5 billion of public expenditure every year – of which €3.5 billion goes on capital works contracts.
Outlining the Government’s position of not opposing the Private Members’ Bill, brought by Deputy Mary-Lou McDonald, and advising need of further debate and discussion to identify the correct policy approach ,Minister Harris noted,
“The fact that 95% of procurement spend goes to Irish suppliers illustrates its importance as a driver of employment in the State. For this reason it is essential that the design of social clauses has sufficient flexibility to the needs of specific contracts and does not disadvantage the wider economy.”
Minister Harris listed a number of initiatives where social clauses are being deployed, in particular the establishment, by Minister Howlin last June, of a Social Clauses Project Group. This group is currently leading a pilot to determine where social clauses could be most effectively deployed to contribute to employment or training opportunities for long term unemployed. The findings of this 12-month pilot will inform further debate in this area.
More generally Minister Harris referred to other initiatives in the Public Procurement domain aimed at increasing SME participation, including the introduction earlier this year of Circular 10/14 which sets out several positive measures.*
“These guidelines are extremely welcome and important to ensuring SMEs can compete in a reformed Public Procurement environment, we now must ensure these guidelines are implemented across the system in a consistent manner.”
Ends

