No. 11/1926:

THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES (COMBINED PURCHASING) REGULATIONS, 1926.

THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES (COMBINED PURCHASING) REGULATIONS, 1926.

DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

In exercise of the powers vested in me by Sections 3 and 12 of the Local Authorities (Combined Purchasing) Act, 1925 , I, the Minister for Local Government and Public Health do by this my Order, make and prescribe the regulations and forms hereinafter appearing for the purposes of the said Act, that is to say :—

1.—This Order may be cited as the Local Authorities (Combined Purchasing) Regulations, 1926.

2.—The Interpretation Act, 1923 , applies to the interpretation of this Order in like manner as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas.

3.—In this Order the expression " the Act " means the Local Authorities (Combined Purchasing) Act, 1925 .

Application for Appointment.

4.—(1). Every application for appointment as Official Contractor under the Act shall be made on Forms A and B contained in the Schedule to these regulations, or on forms to the like effect.

(2) The Department of Local Government and Public Health shall supply to any person who is desirous of being appointed Official Contractor, and who makes application to them, copies of the said Form A and Form B relating to such commodity and in the said copies Columns 1 and 2 of the said Form B shall be duly completed in accordance with the directions of the Minister.

Forms of Notification.

5.—The notification required by Section 5 of the Act to be sent by a Local Authority to an Official Contractor shall be in the form prescribed as the form of Order Check Book by the Public Bodies Order, 1925, or as the Order Book by the County Boards of Health Accounts Order, 1923, or any Order amending same.

Standard of Quality.

6.—The standard of quality of any commodity to be supplied by an Official Contractor shall be that specified in relation to such commodity in the Specification (Form B) annexed to his application for appointment as Official Contractor, or in any undertaking entered into by him with the Minister under Section 4 of the Act. In case an official sample of the commodity is provided by the Minister, or a sample of the commodity has been deposited by the Contractor with his application for appointment, the commodity supplied shall conform to such sample in all respects.

Conditions of Supply.

7.—The conditions of supply for any commodity for which the Minister has appointed or intends to appoint an Official Contractor shall be as follows :—

(1) Save where the Minister, by his order appointing an Official Contractor for any commodity prescribes a special mode of delivery of such commodity, every commodity shall be delivered carriage paid to the railway station nearest to the place of delivery indicated in the notification from the Local Authority of the quantity of the commodity or commodities required by them.

(2) Delivery of any commodity by an Official Contractor in pursuance of a notification from a Local Authority shall not be deemed to have been completed until the Secretary, Clerk, or other authorised officer of the Local Authority shall have duly accepted delivery thereof.

(3) An Official Contractor shall cause any commodity consigned by him to a Local Authority to be securely packed.

(4) All empty cases and packing materials shall be deemed to be returnable by the Local Authority unless otherwise stated by the Official Contractor in the invoice relating to the commodity and shall be allowed to the Local Authority in full by the Official Contractor when returned carriage paid by them.

(5) An Official Contractor shall deliver any commodity required by a Local Authority at such times and in such instalments as shall be specified in the notification from the Local Authority : Provided that :

(a) The Official Contractor shall not be required to deliver within such period after such notification as the Minister shall specify in the appointment of the Official Contractor.

(b) The Official Contractor shall not be deemed to have failed to comply with this condition where the delivery of the commodity to the Local Authority has been delayed in transit by reason of circumstances which the Official Contractor could not have prevented or foreseen.

(6) A Local Authority or their Secretary, or Clerk or other officer so authorised by the Local Authority, shall be entitled in case any commodity delivered by an Official Contractor in pursuance of a notification from the Local Authority is not in every respect of the quality and sort ordered or is deficient in weight, size, measure or quantity either to return the same at the expense of the Official Contractor or to give notice to the Official Contractor to send for and take away the same and in either case to purchase a fresh supply of such commodity or of such other commodity in lieu thereof as the Local Authority or their Secretary or Clerk or other officer so authorised as aforesaid shall think fit, or to employ any person or persons to furnish a fresh supply of such commodity.

(7) A Local Authority or their Secretary, Clerk or other officer so authorised shall be entitled in case any commodity delivered to them by an Official Contractor in pursuance of a notification from the Local Authority is deficient in weight, size, measure or quantity ordered by them, to retain the same and to purchase from any other person or persons such a supply of such commodity as shall be necessary to complete the quantity ordered, or to purchase and provide such quantity or quantities of any other commodity or commodities directed by the Local Authority to be used instead of the commodity contracted for with the Official Contractor.

(8) An Official Contractor shall bear and make good to the Local Authority all charges and expenses of any commodity provided by a Local Authority under paragraphs (6) and (7) of these conditions over and above the price at which such commodity was contracted to be supplied and delivered to such Local Authority by the Official Contractor.

(9) A Local Authority shall be entitled to retain and apply any sum of money which may be due to an Official Contractor to the payment of such charges and expenses as the Local Authority shall incur under paragraphs (6) and (7) of these conditions in respect of any default as therein mentioned of such Official Contractor.

(10) Where a Local Authority or an officer of a Local Authority on their behalf, exercises any of the powers contained in paragraphs (6) or (7) of these conditions in respect of any commodity delivered to the Local Authority by an Official Contractor, if the Official Contractor disputes the existence of the grounds alleged by the Local Authority or officer for the exercise of such power, the Official Contractor may require an examination of the commodity by an independent person to be mutually agreed upon by the Local Authority and the Official Contractor, or, in case the Local Authority and the Official Contractor fail so to agree, to be nominated by the Minister. Such independent person shall decide whether such grounds existed, and such decision shall be final. The party against whom such decision is given shall pay all the expenses of such examination.

Provision of Official Samples.

8.—(1) The Minister may provide official samples of any commodity for which he proposes to appoint an Official Contractor.

(2) Every official sample provided by the Minister under this article shall be deposited in the Offices of the Department of Local Government and Public Health (Trade Department), 50 Upper Mount Street, Dublin, and shall be open to public inspection.

Testing or Ascertaining of Nature or Quality of Commodity.

9.—(1) A Local Authority desiring to have the quality or nature of any commodity (other than an article of food or a drug) supplied to them by an Official Contractor tested or ascertained under Section 7 of the Act shall comply with the following rules :—

(i) The Local Authority shall within ten days after the delivery of the commodity cause to be taken a sample of the commodity, and shall divide the sample into three parts, and shall cause each part to be marked, sealed, and fastened up, and shall retain one such part and shall deliver or send by post one such part to the Official Contractor by whom such commodity was supplied and one such part to the Minister.

(ii) If the commodity is of such a nature that a sample cannot be taken and divided into parts as aforesaid, the Local Authority shall send a fair specimen of the commodity to the Minister only, within the period aforesaid.

(iii) The Local Authority shall in either of the cases above-mentioned notify the Official Contractor that they have caused a specimen or sample of the commodity to be taken, and have sent the same or a part thereof to the Minister to have the quality or nature thereof tested or ascertained.

(iv) On receipt of the report of the person appointed by the Minister to test or ascertain the quality or nature of the commodity, the Local Authority shall communicate the same to the Official Contractor, and shall take such steps as shall be necessary to rectify any default on the part of the Official Contractor in relation to the commodity supplied by him.

(2) A Local Authority shall pay to the Minister in respect of the testing or ascertainment of the quality or nature of any commodity under this article such fee as the Minister shall determine.

Given under My Seal of Office this Ninth day of

February, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand

Nine Hundred and Twenty-six.

(Signed), SEAMUS DE BÚRCA,

Minister for Local Government and Public Health.

SCHEDULE.

FORM A.

APPLICATION FOR APPOINTMENT AS OFFICIAL CONTRACTOR.

THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES (COMBINED PURCHASING) ACT, 1925 .

I/WE,            , do hereby make application to the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, in pursuance of the public notice given by him in this behalf, to be appointed an Official Contractor under the above-mentioned Act for the period beginning on the     day of      ,192  , and ending on the     day of      , 192   , for the supply of the commodities specified and particularised in the Specification of Commodities attached to this application on which I/We have affixed my/our name before making this application, to Local Authorities in any part of Saorstát Eireann in respect of which a price appears for such commodity in Column 4 of such specification.

And I /We hereby declare that the prices appearing in Column 4 of the said specification in respect of each area are the prices at which I/We am/are willing to supply to Local Authorities in such area the commodities specified in the said specification.

And I/We further declare that I/We will deliver any of the said commodities required by any Local Authority at such times and in such instalments as shall be specified in the notification from the Local Authority, provided that I/We shall not be required to deliver a supply of any commodity in any area, within the period after such notification specified in Column 5 of the said specification in respect of such commodity.

And I/We hereby further declare that in the event of my/our being appointed Official Contractor, every commodity supplied by me/us to a Local Authority as such Official Contractor shall be of a standard of quality not inferior to that of the official sample of such commodity deposited for public inspection in the Offices of the Department of Local Government and Public Health (Trade Department), 50 Upper Mount Street, Dublin, and in accordance with the standard specified in the said specification annexed hereto, and that I/We will supply such commodity to such Local Authorities in accordance with the conditions of supply prescribed by the Minister for Local Government and Public Health, in relation to such commodity, or generally, by regulations made under the above-mentioned Act.

FORM B.

LOCAL AUTHORITIES (COMBINED PURCHASING) ACT, 1925 .

DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH.

Period from ........................................................... to............................................................ .....................

Specification of Commodities in respect of which application is made for appointment as official Contractor during the above period, with prices, areas of supply, periods for delivery, etc.

These Commodities are to be delivered carriage paid to the Railway Station* nearest to the place of delivery indicated in the notification from the Local Authority of the quantity required.

* Note: Any special mode of delivery other than the above which the Minister has prescribed should be inserted in substitution for this line.