COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 12, 2012

QUESTION NO. 10

QUESTION: Councillor W. Lavelle

To ask the Manager, further to the motion agreed at the January meeting; and noting the commitment in the recently-published ‘Action Plan on Jobs’ to “communicate with local businesses to maximise their participation in the procurement process”; to outline how this council plans to increase local SME participation in the procurement process, in particular with respect to below-threshold tendering; and to set a target increase for the percentage of tenderers who are local SME’s?

REPLY:

As outlined at the January 2012 meeting the Council is very conscious of the needs of SMEs and in particular those SMEs, traders and supplier operating within the Council's administrative area.  The importance and potential which exists for them in relation to tender and below- tender threshold selling opportunities cannot be underestimated and the Council is anxious that suppliers are aware of all available and suitable opportunities.

 In relation to the procurement process and the Action Plan for Jobs

3.51  of the Action Plan for Jobs provides as follows 

Assign advisers, mentors, and Business Accelerators with specific public sector knowledge to advise and help firms win more sales from procurement. Local Authorities will also assist and communicate with local businesses to maximise their participation in the procurement process and will improve the Local Authority procurement database (LA Quotes) to make it more user-friendly for SMEs.  In parallel, through Enterprise Ireland and Local Authorities, highlight to major contracting authorities the supply opportunities from indigenous businesses, and particularly SMEs.

 6.5 of the Action Plan for Jobs, Table of Actions provides as follows: 

“Develop a new sectoral strategy to promote employment, and support local enterprise by Local Government, to include measures in the area of business charges, local enterprise and business support arrangements, procurement support, local development and community based initiatives, the Green Economy and local government participation in employment support schemes. These measures will complement, and assist in the delivery at a local level, of other actions set out in this Action Plan”.

 Due to the size of the organisation there are a number of areas where devolved procurement occurs within functional areas, as well as procurement which is undertaken centrally on a corporate basis. The Council is currently collecting information on all expenditure on goods and services across the organisation and to review the methodology of procurement in each case, with a view to making recommendations on how best the Council can make expenditure savings through more efficient procurement as well as supporting the local economy while complying with procurement legislation and guidelines. 

 The extraction, analysis and collation of the required information is quite comprehensive.  In order to meet the procurement needs of the organisation and advance this work it is proposed to develop a central procurement co-ordination unit that will co-ordinate procurement activity across the organisation. As also agreed in January 2012, a progress report on this activity will be brought back to council as soon as possible. 

 All tender opportunities for acquisition of goods and services over a threshold of €25,000 and works over a threshold of over €50,000 must be advertised on eTenders website.   The Council also published details of all its tender opportunities on the homepage of its  www. SDCC.ie website.

 Work is also ongoing within the organisation and collaboratively with South Dublin Chamber and SME’s to ensure fair share of the market while operating within strict legislative confines.   The County Development Board continues its work on the delivery of the integrated economic development strategy and is currently working with South Dublin Chamber of Commerce in organising the second of its Procurement Seminars.   

All Council staff have access to a number of useful links for local businesses.    However local businesses should also make themselves known through whatever forums are available to them including local media, local directories etc as these forums are used by the Council  when sourcing possible suppliers for subtendering opportunities.    While our financial management system is not flagged in such a way that will support the exclusion without manual intervention of certain elements of information eg those suppliers from within the county, it is worth noting that during 2011 a total of 2,496 trade creditors / suppliers sold goods and services below threshold value of  €25,000 to SDCC.  The monetary value of these transactions totalled c €15m.

 In conclusion it is not possible to set a target increase for the percentage of tenderers who are local SMEs as all tenders are conducted under a formal and prescribed process which must accord to the EU principles of procurement ie Transparency, Equal Treatment, Proportionality,  Mutual Recognition.   Therefore SDCC cannot go to tender for the acquisition of goods, services and works with specific target to local SMEs.