Many of the contracts to provide services to the Office of Public Works (OPW) for special EU meetings in Ireland breached EU or Government procurement rules, it has emerged. Arthur Beesley, Political Reporter reports
Multiple breaches of the procurement guidelines are highlighted in a new report to the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Tom Parlon, by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) consultancy.
Separately, the report found that the business links of an OPW official with the managing director of a company that was the main supplier of audio-visual services to the OPW at Dublin Castle placed the official "in conflict with the interests of the OPW and was inconsistent with his official duties".
The official, Mr Des Swords, had been a co-director in three other companies with Mr Frank White, the managing director of Pearl Corp, a company which received some €802,000 for audio-visual work for the OPW at Dublin Castle between 1997 and 2003. PwC said it understood that OPW management was aware of Mr Swords' connection with Mr White and that he appeared to have complied with applicable rules in relation to outside activities. The report said no evidence came to PwC's attention that Mr Swords had gained directly from decisions taken in relation to the procurement of services from Pearl Corp.
But while Mr Swords was not in a position to approve payments to Pearl Corp, PwC said it was "likely and not unreasonable" for suppliers in the business to have the perception that he would be a position to influence decisions about the allocation of work to suppliers.
The report found major flaws in the procurement process for many of the services required to stage a series of high-profile EU presidency meetings in Ireland. Some contracts were worth hundreds of thousands of euro, it said.
Flaws were found in the procurement of a temporary marquee-like structure for a meeting of finance ministers chaired by the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, at Punchestown, Co Kildare. Related flaws were identified in the procurement of similar structures for a foreign ministers meeting in Tullamore, Co Offaly, chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.
In addition, shortcomings were identified in the procurement of services from mechanical and electrical consultants and in the procurement of audio-visual and simultaneous interpretation equipment. The report also found flaws in the procurement of catering, transport, labour services, and for electrical work.
Mr Parlon said in a statement last night that he accepted the findings of the review and was committed to implementing a series of recommendations in full. Senior OPW sources acknowledged last night that procurement procedures had broken down, but they attributed this to a "can-do" culture in the organisation. They said there was no suggestion that the work was of poor quality, or that value for money was not achieved.
On the procurement of temporary structures for the Punchestown and Tullamore meetings, PwC said the contracts worth €269,000 were subject to a restricted tender process.
"OPW procedures do not allow use of restricted tendering in respect of contracts greater than €67,000. This procedure has been breached," it said.
"Public procurement guidelines require that at least five tenders be sought and that three realistic tenders be obtained. These requirements have not been fulfilled." Similar conclusions were reached in respect of several other contacts. The report said the procurement of services from the mechanical and electrical consultants Callaghan Engineering Ltd was likely to exceed the €162,293 threshold that applied to the EU procurement procedure.
"This amount is, we understand, likely to be exceeded, resulting in a possible breach of EU rules," the report said.