25 November 2010 | Lindsay Clark
The Irish government will appoint a public sector head of procurement and save €65 million on spending by 2014, the National Recovery Plan said.
In response to the Republic’s financial crisis, which has prompted a bail-out by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, the government yesterday published The National Recovery Plan 2011-2014.
It said: “The government has decided to strengthen and focus current efforts in this area by the appointment of a public service-wide head of procurement to help drive a more coherent policy basis and achieve the savings targets required in public procurement.”
It also said that the National Procurement Service (NPS), which was established in 2009, had completed a major exercise to identify the top spending categories of expenditure across the public service. “The NPS will leverage the public service’s buying power to obtain better value for money.”
The NPS has targeted savings of approximately €40 million (£33.8 million) in 2010, with €50 million (£42.3 million) savings proposed for 2011. This will rise to €65 million (£55 million) by 2014.
The overall spending budget, including administration subsidies, grants and procurement, will be €13.8 billion (£11.6 billion) in 2010 and is set to be cut by 22 per cent by 2014.
In the health system, management functions, including procurement, will be centralised, with a view to making savings.
