DUBLIN: The HSE says that the awarding of a national contract for the provision of blinds, curtains and furniture represents a saving for the taxpayer, but small businesses say they’re losing out.
The executive had previously awarded the contracts on a smaller basis, working generally with local businesses.
However, that process changed recently and the national contract was awarded to a foreign company, with one HSE officer reportedly telling a business owner that the price had “blown the small businesses out of the water”.
The HSE says that the tender was advertised in two lots and gives value for money to the taxpayer.
However, Mark Fielding of the Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) says that while spending less on a foreign company may make sense in the short term, it damages the country’s economy in the longer-term.
“In one tender that I know of, there were 268 conditions needed to be fulfilled. That excluded every SME that I know of. The fact of awarding the contract to the most economically advantageous bid is gone out the window – it’s now just the lowest price.”
