AQW 19509/17-22

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 26/05/2021
Answered On Date: 11/06/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Assembly Commission why the Assembly's stationery contract is limited to specific items that prevents MLAs from purchasing permitted items such as a webcam or cleaning materials at cost effective catalogue prices.

Answer:

The Assembly Commission’s current stationery contract is for stationery and IT consumables. It is a framework agreement procured with Banner in 2016 and it covers a range of core stationery and IT consumable products at cost effective prices. The contract was not intended to include IT hardware items such as laptops, webcams, IT storage devices, etc.

Despite the exceptional supply issues that existed at the outset of the pandemic in early 2020 with limited or non-availability of many cleaning products worldwide, cleaning materials and PPE were available from Banner and, accordingly, cleaning products including sanitising gel, wipes, anti-bacterial sprays, blue rolls, etc. are available for Members.