Albert Dolan: Add Contract Column to Purchase Orders
Albert Dolan asked the Minister to require departments to add a contract reference column to published purchase order reports so each payment can be linked back to the authorising contract. He argued this small change would create a golden thread from tender and contract award through to payment and improve traceability of public spending.
Minister's response: The Minister said the department is committed to transparency, noted existing publication of purchase orders over €20,000 and machine-readable reporting under Open Data Guidance. She said she is open to examining the Deputy's proposal but cautioned that system configuration, information requirements and costs must be assessed across departments and agencies.
Deputy's evidence and examples: Deputy Dolan highlighted gaps in practice - some state bodies only published after reminders, and the Office of Government Procurement stopped centrally collecting procurement spend data in 2019. He said his team has tracked over 100 billion euros in procurement spend over the last decade and argued that adding a contract reference would be a practical, transformative step.
Policy context: The Minister reminded the Chamber that purchase order publication traces back to the Programme for Government and 2011 Public Service Reform Plan and that Secretaries General were recently reminded of obligations under the Open Data Directive and the Freedom of Information Act 2014. A new national procurement strategy, she said, will address transparency and competition and is expected to go to government before the summer recess.
Next steps and consequences: Both speakers accepted the objective of greater transparency. The Minister committed to continued engagement with stakeholders and officials to examine feasibility, costs and system impacts, while Deputy Dolan pressed for a simple but concrete change that would help link payments to contracts and allow better public oversight of procurement spend.
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We move on to question 13, Deputy Dolan. Go raibh maith agat Cathaoirleach. Minister, will you consider instructing departments and bodies under your remit to include an additional column in their published purchase order reports to indicate the specific contract under which each payment is made? Essentially, Minister, from a purchase order report I can see who was paid, I can see how much they were paid, I can see when they were paid but I cannot see for what they were paid. And I think the only way we can do that is by linking it back to the original contract. Go raibh maith agat. Minister? Thank you Deputy Dolan. I'm committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in public expenditure including in relation to the publication of purchase orders over €20,000. In this context my own department has an effective process in place to produce the quality purchase order reports in a timely manner. As the Deputy will be aware the publication of purchase order data over €20,000 stems from a commitment to the Programme for Government and Public Service Reform Plan in 2011. Since then my department in common with many other public bodies has developed standardised reporting processes to enable timely and efficient publication of this information. In line with evolving best practice my department has enhanced the accessibility of these reports including by making them machine readable aligning with the Open Data Guidance and Principles. Furthermore my department has recently written to Secretaries General of all government departments reiterating the statutory obligations of public bodies under the Open Data Directive and Freedom of Information Act 2014. In the context of continuing to enhance transparency I'm open to examining how additional information could be provided in a meaningful way in respect of the Deputy's specific proposal to include an additional column identifying the contract under which each payment is made. I absolutely acknowledge the potential benefits this may bring in terms of enhancing transparency and expenditure reporting. However I've been informed by officials the feasibility of implementing such a requirement across departments and agencies is contingent on the configuration capability of some of the existing financial management systems. Any proposed change of this nature would require further details consideration including clarification of the specific information requirements, assessment of system capabilities and then the evaluation of the associated costs and administrative impacts. My department will continue to engage with stakeholders on opportunities to improve reporting in a manner that is practical, proportionate and sustainable and in line with the wider direction that you're outlining. Thank you Minister and thank you for your work in writing to all of the state bodies to remind them of their obligation under the EU Open Data that they had to publish their purchase orders in machine-readable format and you know just to give you an example TII weren't publishing, the Children's Hospital weren't publishing, the Arts Council weren't publishing and once you had wrote to them this ensured that they did start publishing and we had wrote to them as well and one thing that you'll be aware of my work with my team in collaborating all of the information to get over 100 billion euros in procurement spend tracked over the last decade and you know it just goes back to the fundamental point that the state can tell you that a payment was made but it is not easy to see which contract authorized it and some entities and some suppliers have multiple contracts with multiple state entities and it's actually really difficult to see exactly what they were doing or what they provided and that's I guess for ministers and for everyone to be able to assess what value was actually provided we need to know which contract underpinned that spend I think that's where I'm going with this and that's where that additional column needs to come in. Thank you Minister. Thanks Stephanie and I commend all your work and policy proposals in this area and I think we all can agree that enhancing transparency is absolutely a desirable objective and I'm open to examining how additional information can be provided in a meaningful way to achieve that. In terms of wider moves towards the standardization part of what my officials are now examining is how what are the various systems and operational capacities in particular departments and agencies to achieve that. More broadly and in line with the focus of transparency I'm conscious of the critical role the public procurement plays particularly in maintaining and building public trust in government. Billions of euro are spent on public contracts every year and the public as you've said need to be confident that their money is being spent in a judicious and fair manner. Likewise suppliers need to trust the integrity of the procurement system if we're to drive participation and increased competition. In that line we're I'm concluding a national a new national procurement strategy which I hope to bring to government before the summer recess and there's different elements from transparency related to procurement process data and organization planning being being consolidated into a broader pillar again to strengthen trust and transparency. Deputy? You know the Office of Government Procurement stopped centrally collecting procurement spend data in 2019 citing GDPR concerns and six years later nothing has replaced it. The department is estimating its procurement spend using estimated tender values on e-tenders not actual expenditure data so I believe this is a structural governance problem and I believe that a very practical step in adding one additional column to publish purchase order reports identifying the relevant contract reference or contract award notice it sounds small but it would be transformative it would begin creating that golden thread from tender to contract award to payment because public money should be traceable from beginning to end and I would say this plainly we cannot govern a system that we cannot see so minister anything you can do in this regard I do greatly appreciate it and I do believe that this is an opportunity to provide a greater level of transparency and I know that you are committed to that as well. Minister? Absolutely and and I said we it's something that I've asked my own officials to strengthen that in the context of particular procurement process and then what are the outputs outturns and transparency connected right through that and part of that will be delivering across that objective will be set out in the new national procurement strategy on how we can strengthen transparency and trust but also then improve competition and the integrity of competition within the market will ultimately to provide better value for money are critical priorities of mine and I'm happy to continue to work with you in this area. Thank you.
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