' Report outlines how public procurement supported the national effort during the Covid crisis'
Minister of State Ossian Smyth TD, today, (Thursday), launched the Interim Procurement Reform Board Annual Report for 2020.
This Report outlines the unprecedented procurement challenges faced by Government in the first year of the Covid19 pandemic when global supply lines for equipment like PPE, laptops and vaccines were under severe pressure like never before. The Interim Procurement Reform Board Annual Report 2020 highlights how the sourcing of goods and services required to keep people safe was progressed through different departments and state agencies working together. It underlines the benefits of consolidating, centralising and planning public procurement.
Launching the report, Minister of State for Public Procurement, Ossian Smyth TD said: “Public procurement played an important part during the Covid crisis and helped to meet the needs of our frontline workers while keeping critical services up and running. I would like to pay tribute to the OGP and its procurement sector partners in education, health, defence and local government for moving so quickly to manage the crisis.
“As well as our response to Covid, this report also highlights how our Procurement Reform Programme continues apace in the areas of green and social procurement and digitalisation in line with the Programme for Government.
“The report describes the many targeted actions of the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) to deliver on these strategic goals.”
OGP CEO Paul Quinn shared similar sentiments. He said: “This report also includes my annual report as Chief Procurement Officer outlining the key activities of the OGP and its sector partners for the year.
“The OGP monitored the exceptional procurement requirements of Covid and supported our sector partners in health, education, defence and local government with advice and managing the hectic workload.
“Thankfully, many existing commercial arrangements provided public bodies with quick access to value for money products. For example, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) ensured schools could easily procure laptops for home schooling. He added: “As if a pandemic were not enough, the uncertainty surrounding Brexit persisted during 2020 and our Policy teams stayed ahead of the curve, continually updating guidance for clients.
“Indeed our policy teams engaged regularly with the SME sector to encourage participation in procurement opportunities while our customer service advisors were on hand to support all stakeholders with procurement arrangements.”
Chairperson of the Interim Procurement Reform Board, Maurice Quinn said: “The co-operation and innovation shown across the whole of the procurement system during this period included initiatives such as the establishment, virtually overnight, of a web platform to manage the large number of offers of support to the health system being made by individuals and businesses in the Irish public.”
Mr. Quinn also acknowledged the support the OGP and sector partners have received from suppliers who responded so well to the challenges posed by Covid.
Other key activities of note included in the report include:
Despite the immense challenges of both Covid and Brexit, the report stresses that a total of 32 frameworks were developed by OGP in 2020 with an estimated value of €1.5billion.”
Notes for Editors:
The Interim Procurement Reform Board was formed in 2018 to oversee how procurement reform is being implemented across the public sector including in Central Government and the four key sectors of Health, Education, Local Government and Defence.
The Board also oversees the operations of the OGP and advises the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. It includes officials from across the public service as well as independent Board members.
Every year, the Board provides an annual report to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. It sets out progress on the procurement reform programme, details activities of the Board and also includes an annual report on the OGP’s activities.
The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) was established in 2013 and, together with four key sectors (Health, Local Government, Education and Defence), has responsibility for sourcing all commonly used goods and services on behalf of the public service.
The OGP and its sector partners have established a comprehensive suite of framework agreements and contracts through which public sector bodies can buy goods and services. This enables savings for public service bodies.
The OGP CEO is also the Government Chief Procurement Officer. The OGP is a division of DPER.