Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Tairgim:

That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to give further effect to Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 and for that purpose to provide for certain reporting functions in relation to procurements to which that Directive applies, to amend the Companies Act 2014 and to provide for related matters.

A Thaoisigh agus a Airí, I am delighted to introduce this Bill. It is something I have worked on over the last number of years. It is entitled the Transparency and Social Value in Public Procurement Bill and it does, basically, what it says on the tin. The Bill sets out to improve the functioning of the procurement system through two avenues: first, by bringing greater transparency, oversight and accountability in procurement spending. How that will be done will be by requiring contracting authorities to prepare and submit annual reports to the Minister for public expenditure with certain prescribed data. This is quite important in my view because the fact that this is not already being done is a major problem, specifically when we see the likes of bike shelters costing over €300,000 and security huts costing €1.4 million, and we have had major capital programmes like the national children's hospital, the final cost of which seems to have floated off into the atmosphere. We often have a situation where journalists reveal this information to us through FOI requests.

The information in the report proposed in my Bill would require, for contracts over a certain value, disclosure of the following: the type of procurement procedure used, a scoring of the performance of the contractor, whether the contract came in on time, whether the contract came in at cost, and whether the public authority was satisfied with the work. It would contain details on cost overruns and information on non-compliant tenderable expenditure. This data would then be linked to other relevant public registries like the Companies Registration Office, eTenders, the Courts Service and so on to improve the interoperability of the system.

The second avenue by which it improves the system is to allow it to be better used as a tool for supporting industrial policy purposes. It would allow us to use procurement spending to better achieve social, environmental and other objectives. We have obviously just had Mario Draghi's report on the need for the EU to better use industrial policy, and I really think this Bill does just that. It would also require information to be collected on the use of social clause provision in procurement contracts. These kinds of clauses can be used for purposes such as labour activation, the creation of apprenticeships, support for people with disabilities, environmental concerns and so on. That is really important because in my work preparing this Bill, I contacted all the local authorities with regard to their use of social clauses. Unfortunately, an awful lot of people do not even realise what a social clause is, and it can have such an impact, especially in those areas where there might not be as many job opportunities. I am also thinking of the likes of major capital projects in rural areas whereby it would be perfect for young people to jump on an apprenticeship and get that use of their educational ability. It would also require collection of data on the details of contracts awarded to small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The beauty of this Bill is that it would also provide the Government and the administrative State with a powerful tool to achieve different public policy goals, and what that policy goal would be would depend on the nature of the priorities of those in government. It is a tool that would allow us to better understand where public money is being spent well and where it is being wasted. It would highlight good performance by contractors and acknowledge them for the very good work they have done. It would also flag consistently deficient performance, which would serve as a warning to a public body about a particular contractor.

I am delighted that this Bill is being introduced. I think it is something that will be really helpful. It is something that will be really useful and I hope that when we discuss it on Second Stage, whenever that may be, I will get the backing of the entirety of the Dáil.

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Comhghairdeas, a Teachta. Is the Bill opposed?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is not opposed.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I ask the Deputy to move that Second Stage be taken in Private Members' time.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Tairgim: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."