Awarding Public Contracts Skilfully and Lawfully within the Irish Procurement Rules

Programme

1. 09:30

   Registration and coffee

2. 10:00

   Chair's Introduction

   Awarding public contracts skilfully and lawfully within the Irish procurement rules

   Chaired by Éamonn Conlon SC

   Éamonn is “pre-eminent - the guru you go to for all the angles.” He drafted the standard form public works contract and advised on the new children's hospital.

3. Panellist

   • Jenny Mellerick, of Central Bank of Ireland

     Jenny is a public procurement expert and former partner of McCann FitzGerald. She is highly skilled at advising on effective compliance and legal and project delivery risks.

   Jenny and Éamonn will impart practical solutions, take questions and comment on the talks throughout

4. 10:10

   Levelling the playing field

   How do you lawfully level the playing field, specify correctly and assess tenders objectively when the incumbent has a favourable position or in-built advantage?

   Answered by Anna-Marie Curran of A&L Goodbody

   Anna-Marie is one of the 10 "most highly regarded" individuals globally for public procurement. She is advising on the N-M20 Cork to Limerick road improvement scheme.

5. 10:50

   Abnormally Low Tenders

   How do you decide if a tender is abnormally low, and what do you do if it is, supported by practical examples of borderline cases?

   Answered by Dorit McCann of Mason Hayes & Curran

   Dorit advised the DECC on the national emergency call answering service contract. "She is a stand-out procurement adviser, solution-focused with excellent technical knowledge."

6. 11:30

   Morning coffee

7. 11:50

   Green/Sustainable Procurement

   How do you deliver green/sustainable procurement objectives in your supply chain, via procurement strategy alignment, specification enhancement in line with net zero goals and EU legislation?

   Answered by Chris Gordon of the Irish Social Enterprise Network

   Chris is the CEO of the Irish Social Enterprise Network, Managing Partner of Collaboration Ireland and an expert in how to introduce green/sustainable objectives into public contracts.

8. 12:30

   Non-tangible criteria

   How do you incorporate softer, non-tangible criteria into tenders such as social inclusion, diversity, biodiversity, accessibility and social and responsible business conduct, and how do you assess them?

   Answered by Orlaith Sheehy of McCann Fitzgerald

   Orlaith is a standing procurement advisor to Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the National Transport Authority. "She is acclaimed for her skill in deeply complex public procurement cases.”

9. 13:10

   Lunch

10. 13:50

    Supplier performance

    How can you deal with and curtail suppliers who score well on tender submissions but perform poorly on other contracts without making this known at the PQQ stage?

    Answered by Kerri Crossen of Philip Lee

    Kerri advised HSE on the procurement of a €150 million Community Nursing Unit PPP. "She is practical, hugely knowledgeable and a pleasure to work with.”

11. 14:30

    Framework difficulties

    How do you control - and overcome - difficulties with frameworks, including call off contracts, renewal options and exceeding estimated contract values?

    Answered by Finola McCarthy of RDJ

    Finola is “quite simply an outstandingly good procurement lawyer.” She is vastly experienced in all types of public sector projects from initial procurement through to dispute resolution.

12. 15:10

    Preliminary Market Engagement

    Given the new emphasis on preliminary market engagements, how do you ensure equal treatment, avoid undue bidder influence, and lawfully elicit improved and innovative solutions?

    Answered by Bruno Herbots of Herbots Solicitors

    Bruno is renowned for "his inventive solutions" and for being a highly gifted public speaker. He led the way on the €20m Royal Irish Academy of Music refurbishment procurement.

13. 15:50

    Over-run

14. 16:00

    Close of conference