The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, T.D. and the Minister of State with special responsibility for Public Service Reform and the Office of Public Works, Brian Hayes, T.D. have today welcomed the announcement of four new appointments to the Office of Government Procurement senior management team.
Mr Eoin Lonergan has been appointed as Sourcing Director. Mr Lonergan will be responsible for the sourcing and spot buying capabilities for the Office of Government Procurement, covering approximately €4 billion per annum. He joins the Office from PwC’s Procurement Consulting practice (UK), where he is a Senior Manager, leading procurement transformation and strategic sourcing projects with clients across both the public and private sectors. Eoin joined PwC from Deloitte Consulting and prior to that he held procurement management and training positions with a wide range of organisations including; BP, the Salvation Army and Whitbread plc. Mr Lonergan will take up his new role in early January.
Mr Vincent Campbell will be responsible for public procurement policy. He joins the Office of Government Procurement management team from the National Procurement Service where he was Director since April 2009. Vincent is a very experienced senior civil servant having previously been Director of Corporate Services in the OPW for 8 years and having held a number of management positions across Departments of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Education and Skills and Justice and Equality. Mr Campbell will take up the brief for Policy with immediate effect.
Ms Kathryn Smith has been appointed Head of Operations and will be responsible for providing operational support for the Office, including business and market intelligence, procurement systems and tender support. Ms Smith is an experienced senior executive with over 20 years professional experience in the financial, telecoms and enterprise software sectors. In all her roles she has championed knowledge sharing and training to drive productivity through efficiency and resource flexibility, and has combined this with the ability to drive new product initiatives from concept through to deployment in record time and within budget in varied environments. Ms Smith will take up her role in November.
Mr Brian Brogan will be responsible for the Corporate Affairs of the Office of Government Procurement, including governance, financial, facilities support, and the Office’s input to Department of Public Expenditure and Reform corporate requirements. He joined the Civil Service in 1995 and has extensive experience with public sector administration, reform and management. He is currently Deputy Director, National Procurement Service (NPS) and has held senior positions with the Department of Education and Skills, and the Department of Health. He was the Project Manager for the establishment of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). Mr Brogan is taking up the brief for Corporate Service with immediate effect.
Minister Howlin stated that “I welcome these senior management appointments, which signal another step forward in the establishment of the new arrangements of the Office of Government Procurement and procurement reform generally. Reform of public procurement is one of the major projects of key strategic importance in the Government’s Public Service Reform Plan. The State spends around €9 billion on goods and services each year. This represents a very significant portion of overall spending and it is, therefore, essential that the public service achieves maximum value for money and operational efficiency in its approach to public procurement.”
Minister of State Hayes said “Public procurement in Ireland is complex, with different levels of procurement development and capabilities across the system. By organising procurement under a unified structure, the Office of Government Procurement will ensure that the procurement expertise and experience that exists in the Irish public service is harnessed and applied consistently to all public procurement activities. In addition, the external appointments being made bring with them significant expertise and experience from the private sector, which will make a valuable contribution to the reform agenda. Together, these four appointments demonstrate the Government’s commitment to making sure that the right people, with the talents and skills needed, are appointed to roles, whether from the public or private sector.
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For more information on the Office of Government Procurement, please see: http://per.gov.ie/public-procurement/