Central government's use of consultants
Author | : Great Britain: National Audit Office |
Publisher | : The Stationery Office |
Total Pages | : 52 |
Release | : 2006-12-15 |
ISBN-10 | : 0102944067 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780102944068 |
Rating | : 4/5 (67 Downloads) |
Download or read book Central government's use of consultants written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2006-12-15 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This NAO report sets out two definitions of consultancy: (i) where individuals and companies are engaged to work on specific projects that are outside the client's business as usual; (ii) where responsibility for the final outcome of the project largely rests with the client. Central government spent £1.8 billion on consulting in 2005-06. This report sets out a number of recommendations on the use of consultancy, including: that public bodies need to be much better at identifying where core skill gaps exist; that consultants should only be employed after an assessment of in-house skills; all public bodies should adhere to OGC (Office of Government Commerce) guidance on consultancy contracts; public bodies should explore the market for the range of approaches and contracting methods available and make more use of different payment mechanisms; public bodies also need to be smarter when it comes to understanding how consulting firms operate and provide sufficient incentive to staff to make any consultancy project a success.