Europe assessing Irish response to postcode tendering

The European Commission is still assessing Ireland’s response to the flawed tendering process for the country’s €27m postcode system, despite submissions from the Department of Communication to an Oireachtas committee that suggested the matter had been concluded.

The department was criticised by the European Commission for its handling of the tendering process for postcodes after the commission found small companies were unfairly excluded from bidding for the contract to design the system.

The ruling, following a complaint by the head of a Cork-based GPS technology company, found the inclusion of a turnover limit restricted smaller firms from tendering for the contract.

While it did not impose sanctions, the commission asked that measures be introduced to ensure similar mistakes are avoided in the future.

Department officials last month appeared before the joint Oireachtas committee on transport and communication, where Limerick Fine Gael TD Patrick O’Donovan raised the tendering process complaints with Eamon Molloy, assistant secretary at the department.

“The commission wrote to us about them,” Mr Molloy said on November 19. “We have responded in full on all of the issues raised and the commission has deemed the file to be closed. Any answer the commission requested has been provided and I am not aware that there is anything outstanding.

“Turnover bars have not been an impediment for companies of all sizes in participating in the Eircode consortium.”

However, a spokesperson for the commission said it only received information on the measures adopted aimed at avoiding future errors on October 30, and that the communication is still “under assessment”.

“An appropriate decision will be taken in the light of the information provided, including possible further consultation,” the spokesperson said.

A Department of Communications spokesperson cited a commission response to a European Parliament question last May, in which the commission said it could not establish any violation of EU public procurement law “that would justify the opening of an infringement procedure”.

It stated: “The department received correspondence from the EU Commission during 2012 in relation to a complaint on the procurement process for the National Postcode System. The case was fully examined by the EU Commission, which informed the department in November 2013 that the matter had been closed as no breaches of the procurement framework were found. The department has not received any indication or communication since then to suggest that there has been any change in the commission’s decision.”