My Department considers hiring external consultants in cases where there is not the necessary expertise to deliver the project in-house, in cases where an external assessment is deemed essential, or in cases where a project must be completed within a short time scale, and although the expertise or experience may be available in-house, performing the task would involve a prohibitive opportunity cost.
My Department complies with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform's guidelines for engagements of consultants by the civil service, having regard to public procurement guidelines.
To date in 2023, my Department has paid €174,706 to consultancy firms for their services. The cost per contract for the year to date is set out in tabular form below:
Consultancy Contract
|
Consultancy Firm
|
Cost to date 2023
|
Annual Business Survey of Economic Impact (ABSEI) 2022
|
Insight Statistical Consulting
|
€14,834
|
Evaluation of State Supports for Equity Investment in Ireland
|
SQW Limited
|
€51,009
|
Shannon Estuary Taskforce: Floating Windfarms
|
G&D GEOSOLUTIONS
|
€29,336
|
Shannon Estuary Taskforce: Decarbonisation of Process Heat
|
Tipperary Energy Agency
|
€15,160
|
Economic analysis of the agri-food sector in the North-East region
|
KPMG
|
€11,378
|
Midlands ICT Cluster Action Plan
|
Second Edge Technology Solutions
|
€17,165
|
Trade and the Digital Transition
|
Indecon Consultants
|
€24,754
|
Finance for Scaling 2023
|
Select Strategies
|
€11,070
|