COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, May 14, 2012
MOTION NO. 19
MOTION: Councillor J. Lahart
That the manager present a report on the recently awarded contract (worth €600,000 for the supply of books to Dublin County Libraries detailed what company was awarded the contract and why an Irish Company failed to secure the contract resulting in the potential loss of jobs and money to the home economy
REPORT:
The recent tender for library books and other library materials which was managed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in association with South Dublin and Fingal County Councils complies in full with relevant EU procurement directives and public procurement policy.
Local Authorities are legally obliged to procure goods and services in a competitive processcarried out in an open, objective and transparent manner in order to achieve best value for money for public expenditure.
The decision to aggregate the purchasing spend across the three local authorities to achieve better value for money is consistent with current Government policy.
The tender was divided into four categories of stock to be supplier: These categories were:
- adult fiction
- adult non fiction
- junior fiction and not fiction
- other materials (e.g. DVDs, CDs etc.)
These categories were awarded as follows:
- Bertram’s from the UK were awarded the tender for adult fiction and non fiction.
- IES an Irish firm was awarded the tender for junior fiction and non fiction
- MSE, another Irish firm was awarded the tender for non book material.
The award criteria were chosen to select the most economically advantageous tender. The split between price at 65% and service at 35% reflected the fact that the bidding firms had been through a selection process and all were deemed capable of delivering an acceptable level of service.
As a result of the value obtained under this tender, libraries will be able to buy significantly more books and other materials for the same expenditure than under the previous supply arrangements. The procurement supply chain from the successful tender suppliers will be forensically analysed during the lifetime of this tender in order to gauge reliability and service levels from these suppliers. The total estimated value of the tender is €950,000 between the three local authorities.
South Dublin Libraries appreciates that the Irish book sector is under significant pressure in the current economic climate and in particular due to recent trends in customer purchasing behaviour. The level of expenditure by South Dublin Libraries with UK book suppliers for 2012 will remain at the same level as for 2011 – the spend will simply be transferred to the successful supplier resulting from the joint tender.