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FOREIGN SECURITY, GOVERNMENT reviews and the supply of newspapers to a government department are among the hundreds of services procured by the public service outside official guidelines in recent years.
Responses to a number of Parliamentary Questions in the Dáil over several months this year reveal how state bodies and government departments have paid millions to private firms for services obtained outside public procurement guidelines.
The responses, received by Independent TD Mattie McGrath, reveal the extent to which services have been procured outside the guidelines between 2017 and 2019.
Under guidelines set out by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP), government departments and state bodies are required to inform the Comptroller and Auditor General when services worth over €25,000 are procured without a competitive process.
The guidelines exist to ensure that the €8.5 billion spent by the State on goods and services every year achieves value for money and a sustainable delivery of services.
Such contracts are usually awarded after a competitive tender process, but answers received by McGrath show that this did not happen on hundreds of occasions between 2017 and 2019.
OGP guidelines state that services may be procured without such a process for legitimate reasons, but in many cases, ministers and departments did not explain why contracts were awarded outside a tendering process.
McGrath told TheJournal.ie that the responses he received to his questions were evidence that the state’s procurement process is “dysfunctional” and “open to abuse”.
“There also appears to be an endemic and casual disregard for how public money is spent,” he said.
“The lack of competitive tendering, even for contracts worth several millions, simply beggars belief. The replies leave the government’s already-tenuous reputation for prudent fiscal management in tatters.”
Public procurement guidelines
Public procurement is the process by which the government and state bodies purchase works, goods or services from the private sector.
The process applies for a wide range of goods and services, whether they are routine or bigger contracts for infrastructural projects.
Since 2014, the Office for Government Procurement has been responsible for sourcing goods and services on behalf of the public service.
After it was founded, the office produced guidelines to promote best practice and consistency in the application of the public procurement rules, which are expected to be followed by departments and state bodies when contracts are being awarded.
One of the basic principles of public procurement is to undergo a competitive tendering process when awarding contracts.
However, this may be circumvented in exceptional circumstances, such as in an emergency or when a company has carried out a very specific service for the government previously.
One department told TheJournal.ie that the list of reasons for such circumstances is not exhaustive, adding that there are always cases where contracts are awarded without a competitive process.
Services procured
According to responses received by McGrath, all but one government department – the Department of Defence – procured at least one service outside the guidelines set out by the OGP.
Between 2017 and 2019, services procured outside of a formal tendering process included:
Of the 16 ministers whose departments awarded contracts outside of OGP guidelines, ten told McGrath which services they provided and at what cost.
Further details were provided by some departments contacted by TheJournal.ie, although many departments did not disclose which companies were contracted to carry out certain services outside OGP guidlines.
Just four ministers named the companies or individuals who were awarded contracts by their department, although most described the services which were provided.
Taoiseach’s newspaper supplies
11 services worth more than €1.1m in total were awarded by the Department of An Taoiseach between 2017 and 2018, although no details were given for 2019.
Services procured included €99k on a legal secretary for the Moriarty Tribunal’s legal team, because they were contracted when the Tribunal was set up in 1997.
€40k was also spent in 2018 on a stenographer for the Cooke Commission, which investigated NAMA’s Project Eagle, because they too were contracted when the commission was set up in 2017.
Meanwhile, over €200k was paid to telephonists operating the department’s switch, because it was believed the providers represented good value for money.
And in 2017, €56k was spent on a provider for the supply of newspapers because a contract rolled over before a new tender request was issued.
A spokesperson for the department told TheJournal.ie that it would not comment on individual contracts, but said the occasional awarding of contracts outside OGP guidelines was allowed under procurement rules.
Telephony services worth €394k were also procured outside OGP guidelines at the Department of Health, where four contracts were awarded in 2017 and 2018.
€59k was spent on mobile and telephony services in 2017, after a contract was extended after the OGP advised continuing with the supplier until a new framework was put in place the following year.
And the following year, €74k was paid on mobile and telephony services after a contract was extended because of a delay following the department’s move to Miesian Plaza.
The department also spent €229k on office maintenance in 2017, after tendering for a new contract was deferred ahead of the department’s relocation.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health did not comment when contacted by TheJournal.ie.
Embassy security
Responses to McGrath also revealed that services obtained outside of OGP guidelines were not just restricted to those which were procured in Ireland.
According to a reply from Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, more than two dozen services worth more than €5.4m were procured by his department between 2017 and 2018.
They included around €1.5m spent on health insurance for overseas staff, after a contract was extended in both 2017 and 2018 pending the issuing of a new tender for the service.
€294k was also paid to a company who provided mobile services, and €389k for security services for Ireland’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, after contracts for those services were extended.
€77k was spent on cleaning services for the same Brussels office in 2017, while €59k was also spent on cleaning services at the Irish embassy in the Belgian capital the following year.
Meanwhile, security services worth €285k for Irish embassies in Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and India were also procured outside guidelines in 2017 and 2018, generally due to an extension of the contract pending a new tender process.
And another €124k was paid for catering services for the Irish consulate in New York over the two-year period, although no reason was given for this in either year.
The Department also spent significantly on one service in Ireland: €500k was spent on the supply of passport application forms in 2017 because a previous contract was also extended pending the issuing of a new tender.
National Broadband Plan
Significant sums were also spent by other departments on services procured domestically.
A number of contracts awarded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment – which spent €14.6m on services procured outside OGP guidelines – related to the National Broadband Plan between 2018 and 2019
These included financial and procurement advice (€1.9m), technical advice (€1.5m), legal advice (€1.7m), economic strategy (€350k), and tax and VAT advice (€40k) in relation to project.
The department justified awarding the contracts outside guidelines by saying that the service providers possessed a “special advantage” because they had exclusively carried out earlier research for the project on behalf of the department.
The department also awarded several contracts relating to climate and energy which fell outside OGP guidelines.
€5.2m was spent on management of the National Digital Research Centre in 2018, because the provider was also deemed to possess a special advantage due to earlier research exclusively carried out on behalf of the department.
€100k was also spent on an investigation the mine collapse at the Gyproc gypsum mine in Co Monaghan and €600k was spent on repairs at the Avoca mine, both outside guidelines because of the urgency with which the services had to be carried out.
The department also spent €350k on modelling the implications of the EU’s proposed 2030 Climate and Energy Framework because the service provider has exclusive data relating to the provision of the service.
€100k was spent on examining the technical feasibilty of a North-South interconnector because the provider had carried out exclusive research for the department.
And €200k was spent on legal advice regarding the Corrib gas field in 2017 and 2018, with the department citing the urgency required to carry out the service on one occasion and a “special advantage” due to previous research in another.
Apple state aid case
Environmental issues were not just confined to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Change.
Among the 85 services worth €9.6m procured by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine were two contracts worth €74k for the emergency removal of waste water in a Fishery Harbour Centre in Howth in north Dublin.
The Department also spent €108k on local purchases of hardware supplies the same year, as well as €3.2m on 37 contracts relating to the procurement of laboratory supplies, maintenance and servicing of laboratory instruments, and laboratory testing.
However, no reasons were provided by the department to justify the reasons why these contracts were awarded outside procurement guidelines.
Legal services were also procured outside guidelines by the Department of Finance between 2017 and 2019.
The department paid €28k to Eurotext on translation services for the Apple state aid case over the three-year period. A spokesperson said the company had provided a specialist service since the start of the case, and that no competitive process took place as a result.
€26k was also spent by the department to economist Seamus Coffey for a review of Ireland’s corporation tax code in 2018.
A spokesperson said that Coffey was asked to carry out the review without a competitive tender because his appointment was made following a Government decision.
Tuam Mother and Baby Home
A review was also procured by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, which obtained six services worth more than €1m in 2017 and 2018 outside OGP guidelines.
In 2018, €35k was spent on the appointment of an independent reviewer to investigate whether any evidence of illegal registrations could be obtained from records of former adoption agencies held by Tusla or the Adoption Authority.
The department also paid €123k to the Expert Technical Group to identify the options and appropriate courses of action available to the Government at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway.
However, the department’s highest spend came in 2017, when it awarded a €775k contract to TRK Construction for the replacement of security doors at Oberstown Detention Centre.
No reasons were provided by the department to explain why these contracts were awarded outside procurement guidelines.
Security contracts were also awarded outside guidelines by the Department of Housing, which spent €1.2m on 13 non-compliant contracts between 2017 and 2018.
It paid €288k to an unnamed company as an emergency measure over the two-year period, to provide security relating to the erection of hoarding while refurbishment works were carried out at the Custom House.
The department also spent €85k on catering and €230k on cleaning services which were procured without a formal process the same year, because it was waiting for a formal process to be implemented.
A spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that the exceptions generally occurred for reasons of urgency, or where an existing contract was rolled over, pending the completion of a new procurement process.
‘Urgent’ printing requirements
Other departments spent similar sums on “emergency” measures over the three-year period.
Among the 25 services worth €4.6m procured under the remit of the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, €262k was paid to printing company Colorman to facilitate “urgent Department needs”.
The department also paid €790k on translation services, and another €456k to Vodafone following the extension of contracts, although no details of which services were procured from these companies was provided.
In 2018, the Department of Transport spent €60k on a review into the oversight of Search and Rescue (SAR) operations, arising from a safety recommendation by the Air Accident Investigation Unit – its only procurement outside OGP guidelines.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform also had a low number of procurements outside OGP guidelines, doing so just twice in three years.
Minister Paschal Donohoe did not give details about how much was spent or which companies were contracted, but said the services included the modification of an IT system at short notice to safeguard EU funding.
IT maintenance and cleaning services were also procured by the Public Appointments Service outside OGP guidelines, as was a contract to supply the State Laboratory with gases in 2017 and 2018, following a delay in establishing a new framework agreement.
No details given
A number of departments also failed to give details of which services were procured outside OGP guidelines, or which companies were contracted, although they did provide figures and occasionally reasons why procurements were non-compliant.
Contracts with a value of more than €13.1m were procured on 74 occasions by the Department of Justice and Equality, all without a competitive process.
In 2017, fifteen of these contracts worth €2.25m were awarded to sole suppliers for Forensic Science Ireland and ICT-related expenditure, while eighteen more worth €3.76m awarded in 2018 because they were considered to be non-competitive.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht awarded nine contracts, worth a total of €1.45m, outside OGP guidelines between 2017 and 2018.
These included a contract for the provision of services and turf supplies because there was only one organisation deemed to be able to provide this service, while another contract related to Culture Night publicity and events was awarded for the same reason.
The Department of Education and Skills awarded 21 contracts worth €4.64 between 2017 and 2018.
The awards included a €1.47m emergency contract to ensure compliance with fire safety regulations in 55 schools, after structural defects were identified at a number of buildings last year.
And the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation awarded 12 contracts worth €724k between 2017 and 2018, although no details of individual values or companies were provided.
In total, 348 contracts were awarded by government departments between 2017 and 2019. All departments were contacted for comment by TheJournal.ie.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General said that it was unable to check all instances of contract compliance by the time of publication, but said that some contracts may be in compliance with procurement rules.
However, the office added that where there is a significant failure by a department to identify and report on non-competitive procurement, the matter is raised with the accounting office.
Jobs for the boys and we’re paying for it !
Now we see where this government’s priorities lie.
There own
“There also appears to be an endemic and casual disregard for how public money is spent,” he said.
But it’s a very different and unequal story for those struggling to raise a family https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/parents-without-public-services-card-wont-be-able-to-access-national-childcare-scheme-payments-until-february-38707996.html
They’re throwing money around as if it’s their own, to their friends within the circle.
@@mdmak33: There is absolutely zero evidence that this is so. It seems more likely that this is a sensationalist statement by a TD. It is perfectly legitimate to buy in services in appropriate circumstances once you apply the rules. This would require, at minimum, some form of document from the State body setting out what is sought, the award criteria and seeking at a minimum three tenders. There are numerous instances where state bodies need one off services for which no tender is in place or where a state tender has expired and another has not been put in place.
Why do we just accept the norm of a corrupt government and move on? This country is in a heap with everything from top down and why does our leader pretend nothing has happened? Scandle after scandle he has let the irish people down…we ourselves as a nation has been badly let down….the whole country needs to be fixed and sadly the wrong people are in power and we have no alternative….housing gone…would rather see people homeless then house them..hse is no fit for purpose management reaping all the rewards….justice gone no seem of justice in this country people seems like people could do what they want and go away for a “holiday”….leo is in cloud cuckoo cuckoo land if he thinks this country is doing ok
@Mike Murphy: I might add a cabinet not fit for purpose and reaping all the big fat pensions rewarded by the tax payer…..leo you may have a lot of people fooled but when your party comes next year looking for votes they will be ran from the door
@Mike Murphy: you’re assuming corruption took place, whereas there is no actual evidence of that.
It looks more like laziness.
@Chin Feeyin: look around you….do you see a health care fit for purpose? Do u see a criminal justice system fit for purpose ? Do u see homeless ness on the decrease? Corrouption is rife and it’s not going to stop Leo an co only see what you want to see this island has gotten so bad it’s only going to get worse
@Chin Feeyin: are you related to madig again or a payed solicitor.
@Dave Stewart: why the personal attack?
@Chin Feeyin: failure to comply with the rules is corrupt! While it may also be lazy but corrupt none the less
@Tim Pot: thats all he knows what to do
Rather sensationalist article. There were many instances where after the establishment of OGP significant state contracts were allowed to lapse pending the running of new competitions and this forced state bodies to use alternative suppliers outside of official tenders or to roll over tenders. The article doesn’t state whether state bodies using such suppliers sought three or more quotes for the service which is officially required. In relation to DFAT security services, given that they have embassies all over the world, there may have been a perfectly valid reason why they procured outside of standard contracts. It is impossible to know how legitimate a criticism this is without knowing the rationale behind each one. It sounds like a sensationalist TD soundbite to be honest.
@John R: exactly. We are running a country after all. How can you do it on the cheap????
@John R: oh come on. €14.6 million spent on “advice” services on national broadband. Without a competitive process and you are suggesting that is somehow normal.
€14,600,000!! spending of this level is required by law to undergo fair competition and to be advertised across the EU.
This is pure giving jobs to mates/ laziness.
The public service are required to go through these often inefficient procurement rules to prevent corruption. Nobody likes it but they get on with it because that’s the law. Ministerial departments should be no different.
@john doe: It’s madness. Lets say they’ve been seeking advice for a decade on this national plan. That kind of money would have 5-10 well paid experts/consultants including printing/computers/social contributions etc. (@250-300k per year/expert) doing nothing else for 10 years except giving advice and writing reports on the broadband plan. Start reducing the time/increasing consultants and you’re talking about Teams of people advising on one thing for years and we still end up with a Plan that’s a load of bollix.
@john doe: On a project so big, 3billion, any party or bunch of independents would have to get “advice” from outside because the expertise is not available in the civil service. If they just ploughed on without advice the moaners would be on here giving out about that too. BTW Corbyn has promised free broadband for everyone in the UK….. How much would that cost here. Would you be in favour of that?
@Jerriko17: of course there is a place for paying people to give advice. Their appointment should be subject to the same scrutiny and rules of procurement as any other public money spend. Especially with spending of this magnitude.
Otherwise we the public have no evidence that the minister didn’t give the wrong firm the contract or worse just appointed his buddy.
Regarding your question on Corbyn and broadband in the uk. I’m here to give my opinion on the flagrant breaking of procurement rules by the Irish government. Not to get into some political whataboutery on election promises in another country.
@john doe: contract wasn’t scrutinised… appointing his buddy….flagrant breaking of rules!!!! . This is one of the biggest deals ever, hard to go along with your conspiracy theories….. They spent over 3 years mulling over this, it wasn’t a mickey mouse run of the mill tender.
@Jerriko17: maybe you are struggling to understand the point of the article and the point being made by my reply.
Or more likely you are being intentionally obtuse to muddy the waters.
The issue is not how badly needed the service was, the issue is that we have rules around public spending that were not followed.
If anyone is spending public money they should be able to demonstrate a) value for money and b) that they have not just appointed their mates.
Perhaps you agree with just asking people to do work without checking to see are there cheaper options. If so hopefully you or people like you don’t work in public service.
Leo has to go
@Mark Gaffney: where?
@Patrick McGarry: EU Commission
I’m in an industry which regularly gets calls and emails from a multitude of government-run departments and bodies looking for quotations for my company’s services. City hall, the department of social welfare and My understanding is that civil servants are required to get 3 quotations. By and large this seems to be happening. Although I did approach
@Perlum Sprite: I meant to say City hall, and the department of social welfare contact us quite a bit looking for quotes so they seem to be concours if getting value for money or the lowest price. However, I recently approached a state run national art gallery looking to be included when they look for quotes and was told in no uncertain terms that they “had their own supplier”. So, they were basically telling me don’t bother tendering for jobs, it’s a closed shop.
@Perlum Sprite: Not necessarily a closed shop. Most standard services are procured through tender. Therefore state bodies won’t use alternative providers in such instances because they legally cannot do so. However there are many instances where state bodies require one off services and they seek three or more quotations to obtain best value. Your company is eligible to seek tenders as all are publicly advertised.
These costs appear to be unavoidable in respect of the business of government. Printing, cleaning, security, communications and transport. Move on!!
@Paul O’Brien: if it was to a public firm I’d be happy but it’s mostly to private firms….and as far as I’m aware security seems to be something of the state to provide….which they cant so as you said….what was it…move on?
@Paul O’Brien: unavoidable 56k for newspapers
@Mike Murphy: Of course it’s mostly to private firms. Government does not provide or supply most of the services it buys in. Nor should it.
Don’t vote in the two big parties again.They need to be taught a lesson.
Pure clickbait imo
77k spent on cleaning an office in Brussels beggars belief. That is 3 nurses salaries for one year, they would be better off sweeping the floors in Brussels, and much much easier. Deliver us from all evil and the irish government
Charlie Haughey is looking almost statesman like in comparison to these wasters.
The government is ripping the tax payer off they should be made accountable for every penny they spend
Very rich of the C&AG to come up with this stuff. The chief reason departments are forced to resort to direct award of contracts in the first place, is the gross incompetence of offices like the OPW and the OGP and the near maniacal funding control of the DPER. They fail to organise tenders and release funding for critical Government operations and office infrastructure in a timely fashion, and then blame the affected departments for simply doing what they must to keep functioning! This is blame shifting 101.
FF will do the same.
@Seamus Mc Nulty: so will any party or independent…. Services have to be paid for!
Epic levels of squandering of public money be this government. Total incompetence, only covered by record levels of tax collection.
WOW
Board of education and science hands Bus Eireann 188 million a year school transport contract for the last 50 yrs no questions asked or procurement procedure, nice eh,, considering they sub it out and pocket the rest….
56K on newspapers… So its not just capital spending they are reckless with, its all spending… FG spend like money is going out of fashion, on all the wrong things too… Gotta go, seriously, they are just trolling us now..
Maybe they could buy a few calendars for the different departments. This might curtail the costly overuns of contracts. Oh wait isn’t there a calendar on their o repriced I phones.!!
Pals of pals?
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