107. Deputy John Paul Phelan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the funding, governance and accountability provisions in place for the Irish Wetland Bird Survey, including the amounts of money paid to non-State agency partners in the survey in each of the past ten years; the details of how non-State agency partners are selected; and the details of any independent assessments and value-for-money reviews conducted in relation to the funding provided to, and the services provided by, non-State agency partners in the survey. [40414/24]

The Irish Wetland Bird Survey (I-WeBS) is the national programme for monitoring population trends of wintering waterbirds and the habitats they use. The survey has been running for over 25 years, covering around 250 sites and 750 subsites per annum across the country. The I-WeBS surveys are completed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), by professional staff of the survey service provider and by volunteers. Due to the scale and effort required, the majority of surveying is completed by volunteers; this is crucial to making these long-term, nationwide surveys cost-effective. This citizen scientist approach brings many additional benefits, including increased awareness and value of birds and their habitats and increased capacity and skills for other bird surveys.

When procuring a third party/parties to provide the services required for the I-WeBS, the NPWS undertakes a public tendering process, in line with public procurement requirements and guidelines. In relation to the current contract for I-WeBS (which runs from November 2020 to November 2025), NPWS ran an open tendering competition in 2020 for external services for a nationwide citizen science-based bird monitoring programme, comprising both the Countryside Bird Survey (CBS) and I-WeBS. The Request for Tenders (RFT) was advertised on eTenders and in the supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU Notice number 2020/S 185-446899 of 18/09/2020. The RFT set out specific tasks and deliverables required for both CBS and I-WeBS, as well as data standards to be met. Selection and Award Criteria were set out in the RFT, as is required. To ensure value for money, contracts are awarded based on the most economically advantageous tender(s). The successful tenderer (BirdWatch Ireland) was selected following this competitive public procurement process. The Award Criteria used in the competition were qualifications and experience, service delivery and cost and a contract was agreed for delivery, as per Government contract requirements. NPWS Project Officers meet with the contractor on a regular basis to review programme progress and delivery of outputs, as per the contract agreement.

Payments made in respect of the contract for delivery of the I-WeBS and CBS surveys from 2014 to 2024 are listed below.