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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/public-leaders-network/2018/mar/28/uk-passport-deal-whitehall-consultants-millions
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| The UK passport deal was at least transparent. Elsewhere, it's a different story | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| Transparency and integrity should be at the heart of all public procurement, to demonstrate fairness and minimise the risk of corruption. The recent row over who will print the UK’s post-Brexit passports shows how misunderstood procurement rules are. | Transparency and integrity should be at the heart of all public procurement, to demonstrate fairness and minimise the risk of corruption. The recent row over who will print the UK’s post-Brexit passports shows how misunderstood procurement rules are. |
| But there’s another, less well-publicised story about the use of consultants as Whitehall attempts to cope with its huge Brexit workload. | But there’s another, less well-publicised story about the use of consultants as Whitehall attempts to cope with its huge Brexit workload. |
| The choice of a French company to produce post-Brexit UK passports gave rise to some ill-informed criticisms of EU procurement rules. It has been UK government policy for at least the past 50 years that public procurements should be based on value for money – and that the way to achieve this is through transparent competition. | The choice of a French company to produce post-Brexit UK passports gave rise to some ill-informed criticisms of EU procurement rules. It has been UK government policy for at least the past 50 years that public procurements should be based on value for money – and that the way to achieve this is through transparent competition. |
| This policy originated well before the UK joined the EU. It is enshrined in the UK-influenced EU 2014 procurement directive, which was enacted very quickly into UK law. The losing bidder in the passport contract, De La Rue, is a UK-based global company that will be used to the cut and thrust of competition. | This policy originated well before the UK joined the EU. It is enshrined in the UK-influenced EU 2014 procurement directive, which was enacted very quickly into UK law. The losing bidder in the passport contract, De La Rue, is a UK-based global company that will be used to the cut and thrust of competition. |
| The claimed saving of £120m on the new passport deal is equivalent to the cost of over 4000 nurses at the top of their salary scale. If De La Rue appeals, it will have to be on the grounds that the procurement process was flawed. My assessment as a procurement professional is that the process was transparent and the chance of the contract award being overturned is zero. | The claimed saving of £120m on the new passport deal is equivalent to the cost of over 4000 nurses at the top of their salary scale. If De La Rue appeals, it will have to be on the grounds that the procurement process was flawed. My assessment as a procurement professional is that the process was transparent and the chance of the contract award being overturned is zero. |
| Value for money requirements are unlikely to change much following Brexit. UK companies will have to continue to compete with overseas ones for UK public sector business – and reciprocal trade agreements may open up UK public sector procurement to even more foreign competition than now. | Value for money requirements are unlikely to change much following Brexit. UK companies will have to continue to compete with overseas ones for UK public sector business – and reciprocal trade agreements may open up UK public sector procurement to even more foreign competition than now. |
| But while the Home Office may have followed best practice, there seems little transparency about the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers to handle the winding up of Carillion, with PwC charging more than £20m in eight weeks for helping the official receiver, with each PwC member of staff costing at least £12,500 a week. | But while the Home Office may have followed best practice, there seems little transparency about the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers to handle the winding up of Carillion, with PwC charging more than £20m in eight weeks for helping the official receiver, with each PwC member of staff costing at least £12,500 a week. |
| MPs should be questioning how PwC was selected – and how the fee came to be determined. Was there competition? Were any procurement laws broken? Is value for money being provided? After all, it is the taxpayer who will be paying. | MPs should be questioning how PwC was selected – and how the fee came to be determined. Was there competition? Were any procurement laws broken? Is value for money being provided? After all, it is the taxpayer who will be paying. |
| This is part of a bigger story about the use of consultants by Whitehall departments to help with the Brexit workload, with reports of “rows and rows” of expensive consultants in some departments. It seems clear that a huge amount of money is being spent on them. Given that government departments have already spent £400m in 2017/18 alone on Brexit preparations and are due to spend at least another £3bn, it would be surprising if the consultancy bills are not already much higher than the £5.5m worth of contracts already signed by six major departments. The final total could well run into hundreds of millions of pounds. | This is part of a bigger story about the use of consultants by Whitehall departments to help with the Brexit workload, with reports of “rows and rows” of expensive consultants in some departments. It seems clear that a huge amount of money is being spent on them. Given that government departments have already spent £400m in 2017/18 alone on Brexit preparations and are due to spend at least another £3bn, it would be surprising if the consultancy bills are not already much higher than the £5.5m worth of contracts already signed by six major departments. The final total could well run into hundreds of millions of pounds. |
| In the cause of transparency, MPs should be seeking clear answers on what is being spent on these consultants, by what processes they are being awarded contracts, how much they are costing – and how value for money is being judged. | In the cause of transparency, MPs should be seeking clear answers on what is being spent on these consultants, by what processes they are being awarded contracts, how much they are costing – and how value for money is being judged. |
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