By Niall Murray, Education Correspondent
Up to €2m in goods and services were not procured in line with guidelines by Cork Education and Training Board last year.
The non-compliance with procurement rules included more than €1.75m spent by individual schools or colleges on a range of services which could have been tendered for centrally by the board.
But in its 2017 accounts just published, board chairman Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy says chief executive Ted Owens has reported that full compliance will remain a challenge, given the nature of the organisation and the extent of spending under various categories.
A report by Mr Owens to Cork ETB’s audit committee six months ago said it can not meet all its responsibilities in respect of procurement regulations, despite ongoing work to ensure compliance with directives from Government departments, codes of governance and legal requirements.
Across more than 70 sites under CETB management, goods and services were procured locally in line with the board’s own policy. But the aggregated value across all the sites exceeded the national threshold of €25,000, above which full public tendering is required.
During 2017,…
