Classification of records held in Corporate Services department

• Finance & Administration
  • Files relating to legal and statutory obligations of NCR including statutory instruments
  • Correspondence from Department of Health & other bodies
  • Agendas and minutes of board meetings & other correspondence relating to NCR Board
  • Agendas and minutes of SMT meetings
  • Agendas and minutes of Audit Committee meetings
  • Agendas and minutes of finance  & administration staff meetings
  • Sage accounting system
  • Income & expenditure accounts
  • Purchases orders, invoices & expenses claims
  • Annual financial statements
  • Audit reports
  • Finance policies
  • Corporate plans
  • Research / financial accounts
  • Lease agreements
  • Insurance records
  • Procurement records
  • Fixed asset register
  • Risk register
  • Post register
  • Salaries & pension records
  • Signed code of conduct agreements
• Human Resources & Communications 
  • Human resource information system (HRIS)
  • Job advertisements / job descriptions & interview records
  • Contracts of employment
  • Induction checklists
  • Application forms & CVs
  • Personnel files
  • Personnel circulars and directives
  • Job evaluation records
  • Personnel census
  • Staff manual
  • Training records
  • Performance appraisal records
  • Agendas and minutes of HR staff meetings
  • Safety statement
  • Health & safety reports / assessments / certificates
  • Signed confidentiality agreements
  • Responses to parliamentary questions
  • Media contacts file
  • Press releases & other correspondence with the media
• Freedom of information
  • FoI register of requests and responses
  • FoI disclosure log & census returns
  • FoI publication scheme
  • FoI correspondence from Central Policy Unit (CPU)
  • FoI correspondence from Office of Information Commissioner (OIC)
  • AIE (Access to information on the environment) – statistics 

Classification of records held in Information Technology department

• Database model
• Data dictionary
• Correspondence from external IT companies & vendors
• Requirement specifications
• Design specifications
• Project plans
• IT policy documents
• Project progress reports
• Help desk entries
• User setup & user change requests
• Software register
• Hardware register
• Infrastructure maps & documentation
• Ergonomic assessment documentation
• User manuals
• Incident reports
• Action logs

Classification of records held in Research department

• Published reports
• Published scientific papers
• Drafts manuscripts of unpublished papers
• Conference presentations (slides or posters)
• Grant applications
• Project proposals, study & analysis protocols
• Ethical approval applications/reporting
• Survey correspondence and documentation
• Data request forms received from external researchers
• Clinical genetics requests received
• General correspondence (including emails)
• Results of research surveys and projects
• Agendas and minutes or other summaries of meetings (internal or external)
• Datasets or summary statistics prepared in response to specific requests (some may include potentially sensitive or confidential information)
• Data dictionaries for datasets supplied to external researchers
• Training/teaching notes
• News items including tweets, popular articles, blog posts
• Study budget documents
• Project-specific policy documents
• Survey instruments
• Data-analysis algorithms or spreadsheets

Classification of records held in Registration and Data departments

• CDR correspondence (emails)
• Induction training material 
• Coding updates
• CDR manual
• ICD O 3 coding reference materials
• TNM staging materials
• NCR database
• IPCOR database
• STR database
• Correspondence with external bodies such as cancer screening service, BreastCheck and CervicalCheck
• Agendas and minutes of Registration and Data meetings

New system

The current CRS system was developed a number of years ago and has been amended and expanded since.

The CRS replacement project will replace the current systems with a single system.  As part of the project, there is a work package to deliver online connectivity to as many as possible locations.

The budgeted cost of this project is €415,000 and it is expected to be delivered in 2016.

This policy aims to ensure that the National Cancer Registry adheres to effective, strategic and professional procurement methods which comply with all relevant EU Directive and Government legislation and recommendations. Good purchasing practices within the Registry will ensure that all funds committed to purchase goods and services obtain optimum quality, service and value for money including delivery, customer service and overall supplier performance. At the same time it will also ensure that the Registry will meet its obligations in terms of 

• Openness
• Transparency
• Accountability

The procurement policy covers the management and control of all non-pay expenditure.

The National Cancer Registry Board is responsible for all funds of the Registry irrespective of the source or however generated. The Board delegates authority to purchase from these funds to the Director and the senior management team. 

The Registry places great emphasis on accountability, efficiency, transparency and value for money. This is in line with Government policy in the public service. The Government guidelines “Public Procurement Guidelines Competitive Process” outlines the national procedures to be followed by all persons involved in the award of contracts.  All procurement activity within the Registry shall adhere to the contents of these guidelines.

The following principles must be complied with:

• Tax clearance certificates are obligatory in all cases where orders or cumulative orders exceed €10,000 annually.
• Competitive tendering must be used, unless exceptional circumstances apply.
• The EU Public Procurement Directives have legal force and must be adhered to.
• National Guidelines apply, not only to formal, written contracts, but also to all procurements and disposals.
• EU and National Thresholds for Contracts apply and are reviewed on an ongoing basis. The current EU Thresholds are available on www.procurement.ie [27]
• Contracts above the stated thresholds must be advertised on eTenders- www.etenders.gov.ie [26] and or OJEU –The Official Journal of the EU.
• Contracts below the EU threshold that are partly financed (50% or greater) by EU institutions come within the scope of the EU Directives.

Procurement procedures

The Internal Procedures for the National Cancer Registry are summarized as follows:

Note: All values are excluding VAT and apply to the total contract period e.g. a contract taken out for a 3 year period with an annual value in excess of €8,333 per annum ex VAT has to be advertised on eTenders.

1. For small purchases to which formal procurement procedures do not apply, some documentary justification should be retained for the decision to choose a particular provider, where more than one exists.
2. A competitive process should be used for all purchases of €1,000 and over unless there are justifiably exceptional circumstances. These circumstances should be recorded.
3. Supplies or services less than €1,000 in value (aggregated over a twelve month period) can be purchased on the basis of  a written quote from one or more competitive suppliers. This process must be documented, including the names of the suppliers, date(s) on which they were contacted and quotations given.
4. Supplies or services contracts between €1,000 and €25,000 (€10,000 in the case of ICT purchases) in value should be awarded on the basis of written responses to specifications sent by fax or email to at least three suppliers or service providers. For suppliers that are on the Government Framework, the same process should be followed – eg obtain 3 quotes from the suppliers on the framework.
5. Reasons for procedures adopted, including procedures where a competitive process was not deemed appropriate, should be clearly recorded. All contract award procedures should include a verifiable audit trail (see Evaluation and Contract Award section).
6. Contracts between €25,000 (€10,000 for ICT) and €209,000 should be advertised as part of a formal tendering process on etenders.gov.ie [28].
7. In order to increase SME opportunities to tender, a process of open tendering (i.e. without pre-qualification of tenderers) is to be used for contracts below €134,000(ex VAT) (Circular 10/14). All contracts for supplies and services with an estimated value of €25,000 (€10,000 for ICT) are required to be advertised on e-Tenders rather than using a restricted tendering process.
8. A process of direct invitation to tender may be used for contracts below €25,000 (€10,000 for ICT). This may involve:
   1. invitation to firms deemed appropriately qualified for a particular project (this may be appropriate for specialised requirements in markets where there is a limited number of suppliers or service providers)
   2. invitation to tender, to firms on a list established on an open and objective basis (for frequent or recurring requirements for supplies or services).
   3. Where direct invitations are issued, firms from which tenders are sought should be a good representative sample of all potential bidders in the market concerned. At least five firms should normally be invited to submit tenders.
   4. The list of firms should be reviewed annually by advertising and should be open to suitably qualified entrants at all times. Recently established firms, or firms with no previous experience of public contracts, should not be excluded.
   5. If the number of firms on a list is too large to invite all suitable firms to tender, a number may be selected for inclusion in the competition. Selection from the list can be made in accordance with specified criteria, randomly, or by rotation, or by a combination of all three.
9. The methods and criteria for selecting firms and for awarding contracts should be documented and should be objective, transparent and proportionate. It should be clearly understood that whether responses are to an advertisement or to a direct invitation, all parties in the process must be treated on the same fair and objective basis.

Order approval / responsibility

The Budget holder has prime responsibility for ensuring that procurement within their section is carried out in compliance with this policy.

Purchase orders

Official Purchase Orders are to be issued for all good and services and are to be authorised as follows:

Where a series of closely similar purchases (e.g. stationery, printing) are made from the same supplier over a period, the aggregate value of these over a twelve month period should be used to decide on the procedures to be followed. Best practice in this case would be to contract with a supplier for all purchases of the same type over the year, using normal procurement practices.

Framework agreements

In general, central procurement frameworks and contracts established by the Office of Government Procurement should be utilized (Circular 10/13). Where a central procurement framework is not utilized a value for money justification should be provided.

1. For larger projects (€10,000 for ICT related expenditure, €25,000 for non-ICT expenditure) the evaluation of tenders should be carried out by a team with the requisite competency. The time of receipt of tenders should be noted on all tenders. The opening of tenders should be evidenced by the persons present, i.e. date and signature. A scoring system or marking sheet should be used, based on the relevant weighted criteria, including price, indicating a comparative assessment of tenders under each criterion.  Where a supplier is used, who is not necessarily the lowest quoted price, the reason should be recorded on file to justify the decision. The tender evaluation should be “Clear and Traceable” with each member separately evaluating before a group decision is reached. The overall evaluation should be signed by every member of the evaluation panel to confirm their agreement. All documentation related to procurement activities should be retained in either of two central file locations (in an IT file or non-IT file).
2. As an aid to understanding and clarity, it may be appropriate to invite the most competitive tenderers to present or elaborate on proposals for technical or consultancy projects. However, any dialogue with tenderers that could be construed as "post tender negotiation" on price or result in significant changes to the published tender specifications must be avoided.

1. All tenderers should be informed of the result of a tendering process without delay.
2. For tenders above €25,000 (€10,000 ICT), unsuccessful tenderers should be given a period of 2 weeks to enquire about the results of the process before the tender is finally awarded.

Date of purchase.................................................................................................................................................

Person responsible.............................................................................................................................................

Signature..............................................................................................................................................................

Supplier................................................................................................................................................................

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Item(s) purchased...............................................................................................................................................

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Aggregate value..................................................................................................................................................

Formal tendering process                                                   [     ]

Informal contacts with 3 or more quotes                        [      ]

Other                                                                                      [      ]

Brief description of process..............................................................................................................................

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Reason(s) for choice of process.......................................................................................................................

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Reason(s) for choice of supplier......................................................................................................................

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2015

2016

2017

NCR board meetings take place on a regular basis over the course of a year. Click on the links below to download the minutes of the most recent meetings.