COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, May 14, 2012

MOTION NO. 8

MOTION: Councillor P. Cosgrave

That the Manager give a report on the awarding of the Libraries book supply contract to the English supplier “Bertram’s”. The contract was awarded on a points system that the cheapest supplier of books would win the contract, not on a better supply service which Irish companies provide.

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 not decided on price alone.

 There were 4 categories tendered as follows:

1. adult fiction,
2. adult non fiction,
3. junior fiction and not fiction
4. other materials (e.g. dvds, cds etc.)

Contracts were awarded as follows:

1.  Bertram’s from the UK were awarded the contract for adult fiction and non fiction.
2.  IES, an Irish firm, was awarded the contract for junior fiction and non fiction
3.  MSE, another Irish firm, was awarded the contract 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 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.  

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.