British firm wins contract to print state exam papers

THE State Examinations Commission has awarded a lucrative contract for the printing of the Leaving and Junior Certificate examinations to a British company.

In a move that has been described as “a scandal” by Fine Gael, the deal, estimated to be worth in excess of €200,000 by industry sources, has been awarded to Stephen Austin and Sons printers in Hertford, England.

It now means no Irish company has been given the contract to print either of the two main state exams here since 2003.

This is despite the fact that the Irish printing industry has shed more than 7,000 jobs in the last four years and is in a “dire” state, according to Gerry Andrews, director of the Print and Packaging Forum, a representative organisation.

A lesser contract for the printing of the Leaving Certificate Applied has been given to an Irish firm this year, but the main bulk of the €34 million A4 pages of exam scripts will once again go abroad.

Brian Hayes, Fine Gael’s public expenditure spokesman, branded the move an “absolute scandal”.

“I still find it unbelievable when the Irish printing industry is on the floor that any major contract is going out of the country,” he said.

Under EU guidelines any state contract worth more than €125,000 must be put out to tender across Europe, meaning Irish companies have to vie with European rivals who have a much cheaper cost base.

However, Mr Hayes says it is possible to “break up the contract” into subject areas, which would drive down the costs and allow it to be kept in Ireland.

“Given the fact it has been highlighted in the past to the Government and the Minister for Education, I would have thought they would have had the common sense this year to break up the contract,” he said.

“The only way around this is breaking it up — it’s exactly what the French and Germans do. That is a deliberate policy which we need to adopt. There is no reason why it can’t be done.”

A spokeswoman from the SEC claimed that more than 50% of the annual value of their contracts connected to the exams go to Irish companies, including printing of “headed paper” and “application and payment forms”.

The tendering was in line with EU procurement guidelines and advertised on the Government’s E-tenders website.