Departmental Contracts

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 July 2025

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Tuesday, 1 July 2025

Questions (125)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

125. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to list all the public services contracts worth €10 million or more, which have been granted by himself or the forerunner for his Department, or other State bodies in the past five years; the value of each contract; the length of term of each; the expiration date of each contract; and whether any contract was discontinued during its term and for what reason. [35485/25]

Written answers

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Simon Harris)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is responsible for two Votes - Vote 27 (International Cooperation) and Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs and Trade). There are no agencies under the aegis the Department.

The policy of the Department is to operate competitive tendering as standard procedure in order to achieve best value for money. Procurement takes place in the context of Directive 2014/24/EU supported by the Procurement Guidelines published by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). These set out a range of procedures governing the procurement process through tendering to the award of contracts.

The Department also participates fully in on-going initiatives of the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) focusing especially at achieving procurement savings, including the use of shared framework agreements for the provision of different categories of supplies and services.

Please find the information requested on services contracts in the table below:

Contract	Value	Length	Commencement Date	Expiration Date	Present Status of Contract
Supply and Maintenance of Passport Production Equipment, Supply of Passports & Travel Documents	€109,035,216	8 years with provision for two possible 24 month extensions	June-2025	June-2033	Live

As to contracts that were discontinued, a decision was made in 2023 that a contract for a new Passport Integrated and Processing System should be concluded due to the contract terms not being met.

The sum of €218,230 was paid to the contractor on 9 December 2021 on successful completion of the first milestone in accordance with the terms of the contract. As milestone payments to the contractor were conditional upon achievement of milestones, no further milestone payments were made. In line with advice from CSSO, the contract was terminated in September 2023, and for accounting purposes, as previously published and as reflected in the 2023 vote 28 appropriation account, the sum of €218,230 was written off in accordance with accounting principles. No termination payments were made by the Department to the contractor on foot of the mutually agreed early termination of the contract.

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