States’ use of consultants deeply flawed

Thursday 13 October 2016

The States spending watchdog has slammed the use of taxpayer-funded consultants as “at best basic” and insists there is “no corporate monitoring of expenditure.”

In a damning report, the Comptroller and Auditor General Karen McConnell has branded the States’ use of consultants as “undeveloped” and says there is a risk that value for money is not being achieved.

Ms McConnell said: “Consultants used wisely are a valuable resource to the States.

“However, the level of management information the States hold on the use of consultants is at best basic. I am disappointed that there is no corporate monitoring of expenditure on consultants. Much more needs to be done to understand expenditure on consultants, hired services and professional services to ensure that value for money is being secured. 

“High performing organisations only use consultants having first considered whether skills are available in-house. They also recognise the need to keep in mind the skills needed for the future and, when using consultants, they prioritise transfer of skills from consultants to their own workforce. 

“But there is no database of skills available within the States' workforce and insufficient focus on skills transfer. Consultants will always be needed in some specialist areas. In other areas - such as digital, project management and contract management - skills gaps should be identified and steps taken routinely to transfer skills to the States' own workforce.” 

The report, which will be made public today, says not enough attention is taken over whether a consultant is actually required for a particular task.

Her report also concludes that securing information on consultant expenditure “was difficult due to problems accessing data, ambiguities in definitions and inconsistencies in coding.”

She added that there were good examples of how consultants have been used effectively, but there were other “key weaknesses” and these included monitoring of expenditure, documentation and evaluation. 

All in all, Ms McConnell’s report concluded that “these weaknesses mean these is an increased risk that the States does not secure value for money from expenditure on consultants.”