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Public procurement from around the world: Ireland

Ireland

Are you curious about public procurement from around the world? What does it look like? How does it differ from Australia and New Zealand? Gary Mander, Senior Manager of Supply Chain & Operations, Public Procurement Advisory at EY, dives right in with this global series. This week, he’s exploring his home country, Ireland. Where will he visit next?

Scale of public procurement in Ireland

Ireland spends approximately €15 billion ($26 billion) each year via the public procurement system.

Legislation

Below the EU Threshold: Public Procurement Guidelines for Goods and Services (Office of Government Procurement) was published in 2020. The national guidelines have had a number of updates, most recently in April 2025.

Above the EU Threshold, the EU directives have been transposed into Irish law as follows:

  • Public Sector – S.I. No. 284/2016 – European Union (Award of Public Authority Contracts) Regulations 2016
  • Utilities Sector – S.I. No. 286/2016 – European Union (Award of Contracts by Utility Undertakings) Regulations 2016
  • Concessions – S.I. No. 203/2017 EU (Award of Concession Contracts) Regulations 2017

Circulars

Government circulars are issued that deal with specific policy decisions (some examples):

  • Circular 09/2024: Reporting on the Use of Centralised Procurement Arrangements
  • Circular 05/2023: Initiatives to Assist SMEs in Public Procurement
  • Circular 20/2019: Promoting the Use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement
  • Circular 02/2016: Arrangements for Digital and ICT-related Expenditure in the Civil and Public Service

Thresholds

For goods and services, the following thresholds are in place:

  • Below €5,000 ($8,797), a verbal or written quote(s) from one or more competitive supplier
  • Between €5,001 ($8,798) and €50,000 ($87,970), a minimum of three written quotes using the eTenders platform
  • Between €50,001 ($87,971) and €143,000 ($251,594) (Central Government), or €221,000 ($388,827) (Local Authorities), a national level publicly advertised tender using the eTenders platform.


For works, the threshold at which a national level tender is required is currently €200,000 ($351,880) and, below this figure, five quotations are recommended.

Any contract award above €25,000 ($43,985) (goods, services or works) requires publication of a contract award notice – even if the procedure wasn’t conducted on the eTenders platform.

SME access to public procurement

A number of requirements were introduced via Circular 05/23 (March 2023) to assist the SME sector, some examples include:

  • Encourage more preliminary market consultation
  • Better use of lots
  • Mandatory use of the open procedure for straightforward, non-complex, requirements
  • More proportionality (turnover, insurance, technical requirements, etc.)
  • Better use of PIN notices

Centralised procurement

The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) develops public procurement policy in Ireland, as well as being a Central Purchasing Body (CPB).

The OGP put in place large framework agreements across a wide variety of commonly used goods and services for contracting authorities to use.

The OGP has approximately 200 staff, and they have cited, as one of their goals, to ‘deliver quality procurement solutions that meet the needs of the public service and benefit society’.

Appeals

There are no mediation or central appeals facilities in Ireland. This means that the only mechanism for a review of a disputed public procurement process is via the High Court.

In Ireland, the mandatory standstill period is 14 days (if the notifications are sent electronically).

Interesting nuances

For below EU threshold requirements, there are no mandatory time limits.

For contracts awarded above €25,000 without a competitive process, government departments and offices submit an annual report signed by the accounting officer to the controller and auditor general, explaining why a competitive process was not used.

There is an onus on each contracting authority to ensure that officials engaged in procurement are fully familiar with the relevant EU and national rules, and are compliant with these when procuring on the State’s behalf.

Follow Gary Mander for more global procurement insights, and stay tuned to the Insider for next week’s destination.