On 31 October 2019, the European Commission published a new set of financial thresholds for the purpose of the application of the EU Public Procurement Directives. These new thresholds will apply to public contracts advertised on or after 1 January 2020 and generally have resulted in small decreases to the previous thresholds.
The main financial thresholds and changes are summarised in the table below. All figures are exclusive of VAT.
New Irish Government Circular on Green Procurement
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published new guidance on green procurement in the form of “Circular 20/2019 – Promoting the use of Environmental and Social Considerations in Public Procurement” in October 2019.
The purpose of the Circular is to promote the wider use by the public sector of environmental and social considerations in public procurement in order to support the Climate Action Plan 2019 by providing guidance on the following issues in particular:
- Inclusion of green criteria in public procurement procedures, where appropriate:
- Support available from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the OGP on implementing green procurement;
- Reporting and monitoring requirements for public bodies in relation to green procurement; and
- Promotion of the inclusion of social consideration and SME access.
