Procurement

Public Procurement can be defined as the acquisition, whether under formal contract or not, of works, supplies and services by public bodies. 

It ranges from the purchase of routine supplies or services to formal tendering and placing contracts for large infrastructural projects.

Fingal County Council is bound by EU Directives, Legislation and Government Policy in its procurement function.

Contract Value thresholds determine which particular procedures are followed.

Further information and current thresholds can be found on the EU public procurement website: http://simap.ted.europa.eu/.

The EU Directives impose legal obligations on public bodies to use objective tendering procedures.

Contracts with estimated values above the thresholds set out in the Directives must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

Directive 2014/24/EU applies to the procurement procedures of public sector bodies including local authorities.

In accordance with Government policy, all contracts above €25,000 (excluding VAT) for supplies and services and above €50,000 (excluding VAT) for works must be advertised as part of a formal tendering process.

The national public procurement website www.etenders.gov.ie is a central facility for all public sector contracting authorities to advertise procurement opportunities including those above the EU thresholds.

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) is an office within the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform. 

It has been tasked with centralising public sector procurement arrangements for common supplies and services. For more information, please visit www.ogp.gov.ie

The local government sector has prepared a Public Procurement Guide 2023 to help small and medium enterprises and sole traders to make the most of business opportunities in the public sector. The guide provides an easy-to-understand introduction to public procurement processes, procedures and vocabulary. easy-to-understand introduction to public procurement processes, procedures and vocabulary.

You can view the Public Procurement Guide 2023 here.

Procurement in Fingal County Council is largely a devolved function, where individual departments are responsible for ensuring their sourcing requirements are met while operating to best procurement practice and compliance with relevant legislative, regulatory and policy requirements.‌ 

The Central Procurement Unit (CPU) under the guidance of the Procurement Officer provides a dedicated in-house resource for the organisation in respect of Public Procurement requirements. Formal responsibility for procurement governance is assigned to the Head of Finance.

The Central Procurement Unit has a co-ordinating role in ensuring that there is an organisational focus on good practice in purchasing and that procedures are in place to achieve value for money and to ensure high standards of openness, transparency and compliance with all relevant public procurement guidelines and legislation.

All staff or agents on their behalf who are undertaking procurement activities are required to ensure that their activities are conducted in a manner that is compliant with Public Procurement requirements. 

You can view our Procurement Policy here: 

Corporate Procurement Policy  

Corporate Procurement Plan 

The Fingal County Council Corporate Procurement Plan sets out the strategic, organisational and operational objectives, which are necessary in achieving a more focussed value-for-money approach to procurement.

The Plan contains a series of actions which will be implemented over its lifetime in areas such as procurement governance, processes, planning, monitoring, organisational capacity and stakeholder management. 

You can view our Corporate Procurement Plan here: Corporate Procurement Plan

All employees involved in procurement activity are bound to act in accordance with the Local Government Act 2001 and the Code of Conduct for Employees.

Members of a tender evaluation team are required to sign Declarations of Confidentiality and Conflict of Interest prior to the tender evaluation process commencing.

The Councils procurement procedures require that all existing contracts are monitored to ensure supplier performance and their conformity with the specification of requirements and tender submission.

Performance reviews are conducted on a periodical basis. 

Please click here for a list of contracts awarded by Fingal County Council with value in excess of €25,000: Contracts Awarded