Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 192: To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of expenditure on consultancy by his Department in 2006 and 2007; the numbers of consultants engaged by his Department in those years; the names of the consultancy companies awarded contracts; the steps which have been taken to reduce the expenditure on consultancy and the reliance on consultants by his Department in these years and for the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42576/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In 2006 my Department issued the Guidelines on the Engagement of Consultants and Other External Support in the Civil Service. These guidelines require that external support is procured only where it is necessary and that value for money is obtained. My department requires that each office and department confirms regularly that these guidelines are applied.

In addition, all Departments and Offices have been instructed that they must halve expenditure on consultancies and provision for such services has been similarly curtailed in the 2009 estimates. The following tables set out details of expenditure on consultants, the numbers and names of consultants engaged by my Department and the offices under its aegis (with the exception of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners) in the years 2006 and 2007.

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 193: To ask the Minister for Finance the amount of expenditure on consultancy by the Revenue Commissioners in 2006 and 2007; the numbers of consultants engaged by Revenue Commissioners in those years; the names of the consultancy companies awarded contracts; the steps which have been taken to reduce the expenditure on consultancy and the reliance on consultants by the Revenue Commissioners in these years and for the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42589/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the number of consultants engaged by them in 2006 and 2007 were 38 and 31 respectively. The names of these consultants are set below.

Expenditure on consultants in 2006 amounted to €27.678m and in 2007 amounted to €0.317m.

Up to and including 2006, Information Technology Expenditure in relation to outsourced software development was funded from Subhead A7 — Consultancy Services. Since 2007 this expenditure is captured as IT External Service Provision under Subhead A5- (Office Machinery and other Office Supplies and Related Services). This expenditure is incurred in developing and providing support for critical Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects, as well as the maintenance and enhancement of underlying application frameworks — their back-office Integrated Taxation Services and the public-facing Revenue On-Line Services. These external resources are not consultants who 'advise and recommend', but who help develop tangible assets, in the form of software, which are recognised by the C&AG in the annual appropriation accounts. Expenditure on IT External Services Provision in 2007 amounted to € 25.975m.

In December 2007 an independent Value For Money Review was completed into the Revenue Commissioners' expenditure on external resources in 2006. The overall conclusion of the review was that expenditure on ICT external resources was well managed and delivered value for money. The report also described the measures that Revenue was taking and is continuing to take to reduce the expenditure on external resources. These measures, which are incorporated into Revenue's current ICT Strategy, include:

Adopting a formal multi-sourcing strategy as regards external resources to maximise value;

Growing back internal ICT capacity by recruitment of ICT staff at Administrative Officer and Executive Officer levels;

Exploiting a judicious blend of in-house resources and multiple external sources to deliver results;

Setting up a specialized procurement and vendor management unit to drive out value for money.

Revenue strictly follows the Department of Finance's Guidelines on the Engagement of Consultants and Other External Support in the Civil Service. These guidelines require that external support is procured only where it is necessary and that value for money is obtained. As for all Departments and Offices, Revenue has been instructed to halve expenditure on consultancy in 2009.