41. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the expenditure incurred by her Government Department on external consultancy services in each of the past five years, broken down by consultancy firm, project and amount paid; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61347/26]

My Department engages external expertise in line with national and EU procurement rules when it is clear the skills are adding value to the wide range of skills already available in the Department and in particular, where independent appraisal and evaluation of policies and projects is necessary.

Such external expertise may involve the provision of expert reports, expert analysis or expert services to the Department. External expertise has informed, and continues to inform, my Department's strategies and policies and the effective delivery of our services to our citizens in a transparent and accountable manner representing value for money.

The policy of the Department is to operate competitive tendering as standard procedure in order to achieve best value for money. Procurement takes place in the context of Directive 2014/24/EU and supported by Procurement Guidelines published by the Office of Government Procurement (OGP). My Department participates fully in on-going initiatives of the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) focusing especially on achieving procurement savings, including the use of shared framework agreements for the provision of different categories of supplies and services.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is responsible for two Votes - Vote 27 (International Cooperation) and Vote 28 (Foreign Affairs). Overall expenditure under both Votes for consultancy services engaged by my Department from 2022 to date is set out in the table below.

Expenditure for consultancy services