Guidance for Irish Schools on Good Procurement Processes

This free online course is to help you assess all areas of a school’s procurement activity. It will help personnel and management boards to benchmark their current policies and practices against a best practice model, set within the context of current obligations under the law. This does not place any additional responsibility upon a school to adhere to National Guidelines and public procurement law, above that which already exists and perhaps of which individual schools may not be fully aware.

The material takes a step-by-step approach to put in place procurement processes for schools. It contains diagrams and templates to support personnel in putting these systems in place in a practical way. It is important to mention from the outset, that a school is best advised to only embark on procurement activity in the absence of a suitable alternative arrangement provided by the Office of Government Procurement, and particularly so for areas of high expenditure. Using central arrangements, while not mandatory, fosters reassurance and convenience in several areas: it reduces exposure to the risk of litigation and exploitation, reduces administrative effort and cost, and delivers best-value outcomes through large-scale bundling arrangements.

Guidance of this nature cannot ever be totally definitive. It is intended to keep it under regular review, to take account of any amendments and changes which occur in the guidelines and legislation which governs how public procurement is conducted in Ireland. In this regard, the Schools Procurement Unit welcomes comments and suggestions from any source which might lead to improvements in this guidance or publicises evidence of further good practices in schools.