The Health Service Executive (HSE) awarded more public sector contracts than any other State body last year, followed by the Office of Public Works and Cork County Council.

A new study from the online platform TenderScout shows tenders amounting to €12 billion were published and awarded by public sector bodies in 2013.

The most lucrative tender notice published was for airfield pavement construction services by Dublin Airport Authority. The contract, which has not yet been awarded is estimated to be worth €30 million.

The research shows that a quarter of all tenders fell across just five categories, namely construction, ICT/technology, training and education, consultancy and recreational; and cultural or sporting services.

According to the study, just 10 per cent of SMEs participated in the public sector tender process last year. The companies which won the most tenders were mainly widely-known bigger firms such as Eircom, UPS, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, RPS, Roadstone and Deloitte.

Many of these companies have had considerable success in tendering down the years with RPS securing more than 100 contracts since 2003. Over the same period, Deloitte won 90 tenders and Eircom 80, the research reveals.

Dublin accounted for 62 per cent of all tenders published last year. Outside of the capital the most successful counties were Cork with 8 per cent, Galway with 5 per cent and Limerick and Kildare with 4 per cent each.

The report also revealed that 82 per cent of award notices are missing - meaning that for four out of five contracts awarded by Government no record is ever published of the successful companies or the value of the contract.

TenderScout’s research is based on interviews with SMEs, analysis of government policy and a forensic assessment of publicly available procurement data.