For all tenders valued at over EUR25,000, the tender notification is published in E-Tenders, which provides electronic access to all Irish Public Sector procurement opportunities. Public Contracting Service Korea contains useful information about the Korean public sector market, including government contracting opportunities and procedures that might be of interest to certain Irish companies.
The European Space Agency provides information on doing business with it, as well as procurement opportunities. Buyandsell.gc.ca provides information about federal public works contracting opportunities and public services contracts in Canada. Contracts Finder is a free service that allows suppliers to search live, government-sector contract opportunities advertised by a variety of Government departments and government bodies across the United Kingdom. Public Contracts Scotland provides free access to contract opportunities across Scotland, including Scottish local authorities, NHS Scotland, Scottish Government, agencies and NDPBs, higher education and further education, and emergency services.
As a government department, we are required to abide by Public Procurement Rules, which govern public contracts awarded to procure goods, services or works. The Treasury and Administrative Services Department makes many purchases for goods and services used across most parts of State Government. The New Zealand Aid Program channels the remaining 75% of our funding through to our partner governments and international agencies, such as the UNDP, which buy goods, works, and services using their own purchasing methods.
There are also substantial procurement opportunities with international organisations such as the European Union bodies, United Nations, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Irish businesses are entitled to compete for many of these opportunities through Irish membership of the EU, EEC and the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). If you are a business looking to tender for EU contracting opportunities, find out more about the terms and conditions for tendering under the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement. Governments purchasing obligations under international trade agreements ensure that Canadian suppliers of goods and services are treated openly, transparently, and without discrimination when selling to governments outside of Canada, and that they have access to dispute resolution mechanisms to ensure compliance with those obligations.
The United States includes government procurement obligations in its free trade agreements (FTAs) to ensure that American goods, services, and suppliers are given fair and non-discriminatory opportunities to compete for the government purchases of US trade partners. The GPA sets forth a mutually agreed upon framework of rights and obligations between Agreement Parties regarding their domestic laws, regulations, procedures, and practices with regard to government procurement. In the context of the GPA, Articles VII through XVI) also serve to ensure openness of access to covered procurements, and to provide an equal opportunity for domestic as well as foreign suppliers and vendors in competition for government contracts. To ensure that basic principles of non-discrimination are observed and that access to procurement is open to foreign products, services, and suppliers, the agreement also places significant emphasis on procedures for providing transparency in laws, regulations, procedures, and practices related to government procurement.
The monetary thresholds above which contracts from such entities are covered by the International Trade Agreements differ between entities as well as between agreements. For a number of parties, the threshold is fixed at 130.000 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for goods and services purchased from Central Government Entities (Annex 1). A separate threshold, set at 5,000,000 SDR for a number of Parties, applies for construction services procured by all entities.
