Wednesday 1 November 2017

Tom Griffin, CEng, is a Senior Engineer at Kerry County Council, and is currently Head of the Local Government Operational Procurement Centre (LGOPC). In this role, he manages, develops and promotes the Minor Building & Civil Engineering Works and Plant Hire categories on behalf of the public sector. Thomas will discuss the establishment of the LGOPC’s bespoke Dynamic Purchasing System at this year’s conference on Public Procurement: Technology-driven Public Procurement.

 

In early 2017, the Local Government Operational Procurement Centre (LGOPC) – acting as a Central Purchasing Body (CPB) under the auspices of Kerry County Council – established a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) for Plant Hire on behalf of the Local Authorities and the Office of Public Works.

A DPS is a wholly electronic process that contracting authorities use to procure commonly available goods, works or services from pre-qualified suppliers. In contrast to other central procurement mechanisms (i.e. frameworks), a DPS is an “open market” product designed to provide access to a pool of suppliers, where new potential suppliers can apply at any time.

 

In 2016, LGOPC staff established a bespoke online DPS application platform: www.supplygov.ie. It was fully defined, designed, programmed and tested in-house, and was a pioneering initiative in public procurement.

The platform provided an eight-step online process for interested parties to submit an application for admittance to the DPS. Applicants that met the selection criteria were admitted to the DPS following completion of the evaluation process. The project also included designing and developing fully-electronic Evaluation, Clarification and Notification platforms, which can be used by the Evaluation Team during the evaluation process. Suppliers who apply to be admitted to the DPS can opt to provide a national or a regional approach, tailored to their business size and capacity.

 

The Plant Hire DPS remains open throughout the DPS period of validity and interested contractors/suppliers can apply to join the DPS at any time by submitting a request to participate electronically, through www.supplygov.ie.

Thomas will offer deeper insight into the successful implementation of this DPS at this year’s Public Procurement Conference, taking place Friday 10 November in Croke Park, Dublin 3.

Click here for more details.