# Awarding Public Contracts Skilfully and Lawfully within the Irish Procurement Rules

> Court-Proven, Solution-Focused Answers to 7 Thorny Questions: Directly from Ireland’s Most Successful Policy-Makers, Lawyers and Industry Experts

- Format: In-person
- Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2024, 10:00AM to 4:00PM (registration from 9:30AM)
- Venue: The Gibson Hotel, Point Square, Dublin
- 5 hours CPD
- Rates: Live Attendance €299.00 per person
- Status: This conference has taken place
- Book: https://whitepaper.co.uk/conferences/procireland24

## Programme

- 09:30 Registration and coffee
- 10:00 Chair's Introduction: Awarding public contracts skilfully and lawfully within the Irish procurement rules
  - Chaired by Éamonn Conlon SC
- Panel: Jenny Mellerick, of Central Bank of Ireland; Alison Hodge, of National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA)
- 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, A&L Goodbody
- 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, Mason Hayes & Curran
- 11:30 Morning coffee
- 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, the Irish Social Enterprise Network
- 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, McCann Fitzgerald
- 13:10 Lunch
- 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, Philip Lee
- 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, RDJ
- 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, Herbots Solicitors
- 15:50 Over-run
- 16:00 Close of conference

## How to book

Choose a rate on the [conference page](https://whitepaper.co.uk/conferences/procireland24) and press Book Now. Checkout asks for the booking contact and company address, then each delegate's name and email, then payment: Credit/Debit Card, or Bank Transfer/Cheque to be sent an invoice. Bookings are subject to the [booking policy](https://whitepaper.co.uk/booking-policy).