National Public Procurement Strategy Development - Consultation Open

Procuring for Ireland’s Future: towards a national public procurement strategy

The Government is seeking your views on the development of a first National Public Procurement Strategy for Ireland. The Office of Government Procurement, which operates as part of the Department of Public Expenditure NDP Delivery and Reform, has opened a public consultation to inform the strategy. Your contributions will help inform the future direction of public procurement for the next five years. Those wishing to participate are requested to complete the online survey, which is available here. Before making your submission, please read the information below.

Please note that this is a separate consultation to that being undertaken as part of the European Commission’s evaluation on the three Public Procurement Directives. Further information on that consultation can be found here.

The closing date for survey submissions is 17.00 Tuesday, 20 May 2025.

Who is this consultation aimed at?

This consultation is open to all those with an interest in the future direction of public procurement in Ireland including, but not limited to, public bodies, businesses (including social enterprises), NGOs, community groups, political representatives, academics and members of the public.

How to make a submission?

An online survey has been compiled to provide interested parties with the opportunity to participate. This survey is available here. If we can support you with any accessibility requirements, please contact us at strategy@ogp.gov.ie

What is public procurement?

Public procurement refers to the process by which public service bodies, such as schools, hospitals, local authorities and government departments, purchase goods, services or works from suppliers. It ranges from routine goods or services, like medicine and waste collection, to large scale contracts for infrastructural projects, like bridges and roads. It is governed by EU and national law to support the free movement of goods and services, ensure equal treatment and non-discrimination, and protect procedural transparency, in order to promote open competition and value for money.

Why is public procurement important?

Public procurement accounts for a large share of the State’s spending. It can assist the State deliver better public services and it enables public money to be spent in an efficient, transparent, sustainable and strategic way. In many sectors such as energy, transport, waste management, social protection and the provision of health or education services, public authorities are the principal buyers.

Given its scale, public procurement represents a significant opportunity for businesses of all sizes, particularly SMEs.

Public procurement can also help achieve wider societal, environmental and economic benefit. For example, a public body can use their procurement to stimulate employment, including among those disadvantaged groups that are underemployed, it can promote innovation, support the growth of SMEs, including social enterprises, and progress government objectives in the areas of climate change and social inclusion. Increasingly, the EU sees public procurement as a tool for steering investment.

Why are we developing a strategy?

The Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future includes a commitment to reviewing the public procurement process to make it more transparent and work to ensure greater participation from SMEs in Ireland. The EU is also prioritising a revision of the existing public procurement rules, to reduce the administrative burden while guaranteeing simple and legally sound processes. Therefore, it is timely to have a first National Public Procurement Strategy for Ireland, so that when using public procurement as a tool for steering investment we are also integrating social and environmental criteria into public procurement processes.

As mentioned above, public procurement can be a key lever to bring about wider government and societal objectives, but it is not the primary lever. Therefore, a collaborative and unified approach is required, to join up the use of public procurement to achieve greater value for money – not just price but sustainability, social clauses, economic wellbeing and resilience.

Significant progress has been made in recent years to make public procurement more SME friendly: with an updated SME circular (2023), accessible user-friendly guides and resources such as the ABCs and top tips to simplify the process. Also the Department developed the digital GPP criteria search tool, to help buyers and suppliers understand what they need to do to buy green and how to do it.

There are already a number of national policies which use the power of public money as a tool to promote objectives that are not seen as directly related to procurement, for example: the Action Plan for Apprenticeships 2021-25, the Trading for Impact: : National Social Enterprise Policy 2024-27, Impact 2030 and Our Rural Future. Last year, the Government published Buying Greener: Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024-2027, which aims to drive the implementation of green and circular procurement practices across the public sector. The National Public Procurement Strategy will build on this progress as well as exploring other core themes, which are set out in the following section.

What is the objective of the strategy?

The objective of the Strategy will be to improve the lives of the people of Ireland through the delivery of strategic, innovative, sustainable and transparent public procurement that supports competition and value for money.

Work has already begun. In June 2024, the Department published a policy statement: developing a new public procurement strategy for Ireland. In September 2024, the Department in partnership with the European Commission ran a national ‘strategic dialogue’ on the use of green, socially responsible and innovation public procurement. The output of this dialogue was the publication of a roadmap towards a National Public Procurement Strategy. The roadmap is available here and below.

The Strategy will be aligned to Better Public Services: the Public Service Transformation Strategy which sets out a vision for an “inclusive, high quality and integrated public service provision that meets the needs and improves the lives of the people of Ireland”. It will contribute to this vision, through supporting our SMEs, developing the commercial capability of public buyers and policy makers in Ireland, taking steps to ensure that the system is sufficiently agile to respond to wider economic, environmental, societal and geopolitical challenges, and fostering a culture of innovation in public procurement to ensure the best possible outcomes are achieved for those living here.

In order to do this, three foundational policy positions have been adopted. The Strategy must:

1. be in the public’s best interest;

2. enable public buyers to better access the markets on which they rely; and

3. make participation in public procurement easier for suppliers.

Proposed themes you will be asked for your views on

The survey provides you with the opportunity give us your views on the merits of the 11 proposed themes set out below:

The policy statement identified four core themes to build the Strategy upon:

1. Strategic Public Procurement is a core objective of the Strategy as Ireland continues to move towards a more innovative, socially inclusive and sustainable future that supports our SMEs.

2. Transparency is a fundamental principle of EU and national procurement law. It governs each stage of the process from tender publication to contract award. Procurement notices published on eTenders are the primary, and the only centralised, source of public procurement data in Ireland. Data from these notices supports obligatory reporting requirements nationally and to the European Commission. Data also supports evidence-based policy and decision making. Therefore, a core objective of the Strategy is to enhance transparency and openness for all stages of the public procurement process.

3. Informed Delivery refers to a process that ‘helps people make well-informed decisions about policies, programmes and projects by putting the best available evidence at the heart of policy development and implementation’ (UN and EU Guidelines ). A core objective of the Strategy is getting the right information to make the right decision at the right time, as successful procurement policy is tied to consideration of the wider economic, societal and political context and geopolitical events in which public procurement takes place.

4. Digitalisation: Connecting Government 2030 sets out an approach to deliver digital government and change how people, businesses, and policy makers interact. The objective of eForms and eTenders, and the desire for the phased provision of high quality, integrated, end-to-end digital procurement is to reduce administrative burdens for buyers and suppliers and create new pathways for Irish businesses to participate in public procurement. Ireland will support the objectives in this Strategy by developing in tandem a digital strategy for public procurement.

In addition to the four core themes above, views are also being sought on the following seven themes which stem from the Programme for Government: Securing Ireland’s Future and from the ‘strategic dialogue’ project with the European Commission:

5. Public Trust: public procurement can play a critical role in maintaining and building public trust in government. The OECD has identified five key drivers of trust in public institutions which are responsiveness; reliability; integrity; openness and fairness. This theme is intertwined with other themes including Transparency and Efficient and Effective public procurement.

6. Capability building for public buyers: ensuring that public buyers and policy makers have the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver on the agreed actions will be crucial to the successful implementation of the Strategy. Training, commercial skills and supports (such as guidance and other resources) are key issues to be explored under this theme.

7. Supports for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): the Programme for Government commits to developing Ireland’s enterprise base as a priority – from backing small businesses and start-ups, to scaling up indigenous firms. The role that public procurement can play in this regard is emphasised by the Government’s commitment to review the public procurement process to work to ensure greater participation from SMEs. All public bodies have an obligation to take measures to facilitate the involvement of SMEs in their procurements. In 2023, the Department published Circular 05/2023: Initiatives to assist SMEs in Public Procurement. The circular sets out measures for contracting authorities to take to promote SME participation in public sector procurement.

8. Central purchasing: the Office of Government Procurement was established in 2013 as one of five central purchasing bodies (CPBs), together with the Health Service Executive, the Department of Defence, the Education Procurement Service, and the Local Government Operational Procurement Centre. These five CPBs have responsibility for sourcing common goods and services on behalf of the public service through “central arrangements”. And it is government policy that public bodies, where possible, should make use of these central arrangements.

9. Value for Money: efficient and effective public procurement is integral to all the eleven themes. It also includes joint procurement (where two or more public bodies with the same procurement need come together and publish one tender), which can increase the effectiveness of public spending by facilitating more efficient use of resources, achieving economies of scale and potentially increasing competition due to increased spending power, for example.

10. Infrastructure: the Programme for Government identifies stable, long-term delivery of essential infrastructure as a priority for the Government. The Government has established a dedicated infrastructure division in the Department. All public works projects that are delivered under the Exchequer-funded element of the Government's capital plan must be procured in accordance with the provisions laid down in the Capital Works Management Framework (CWMF). The main objectives of the CMWF are cost certainty at tender award stage, better value for money and more efficient delivery of public works projects. The CWMF complements the Infrastructure Guidelines, which sets out the value for money guidelines for the evaluation, planning and management of public investment projects, including purchase or acquisitions of assets or shareholdings.

11. Resilience: challenges brought about by crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the high cost of energy prices, have highlighted the importance of a resilience component to public procurement strategic planning to ensure the crises preparedness of the system. During the pandemic and the energy crises, the public sector had to demonstrate significant levels of agility and resilience to enable continuity of supply and service. Significant lessons have been learned at an individual contracting authority and sectoral level, some of which may have the potential to be aggregated at a national level.

Who is the strategy aimed at?

Firstly, public service bodies (departments and agencies) who will implement the Strategy. Secondly, the Strategy sends a strong signal to SMEs that the Government is committed to support their increased participation in public procurement. Finally, the Strategy communicates to the taxpayer, the Government’s ongoing ambition for a more strategic, innovative, sustainable and transparent public procurement.

What type of procurement is covered by the strategy?

The Strategy will apply to the procurement of goods, services and works by the public sector in Ireland.

Will the SME Test be applied to the strategy?

Yes, in line with government policy the SME Test will be applied to the Strategy to ensure the full impact on SMEs is taken into consideration. SMEs play a key role in public procurement in Ireland. One of the core objectives of the Strategy is to continue to promote the participation of SMEs in public procurement and adopt measures to further enable their participation.

What will we do with the information?

We are committed to engaging with stakeholders in a clear, open and transparent manner and value and appreciate your response to our consultation.

We are committed to protecting and processing personal data in compliance with the GDPR regulations, more information is available here.

Each submission will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Acts, More information is available here.

In the interests of transparency, we do intend to publish submissions. In order to comply with the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 and the Freedom of Information Act 2014, personal, confidential or commercially sensitive information should not be included in your submission.

How can I keep updated on progress towards developing the new strategy?

Updates on the development of the new strategy will be posted on this dedicated information page.

Queries

Any queries in relation to this public consultation should be emailed to strategy@ogp.gov.ie

Alternatively, you can call the OGP Support team at +353 1 773 8000 and log your query over the phone. Any other queries regarding public procurement should be directed to the OGP’s dedicated support desk, support@ogp.gov.ie

The closing date for survey submissions is 17.00 Tuesday, 20 May 2025.