Written answers
Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Consultancy Contracts Data
Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1516. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount of expenditure on consultancy by his Department in each of the years 2015 to 2017; the number of consultants engaged by his Department in those years; the names of the consultancy companies awarded contracts; and 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. [15192/18]
Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The information requested on expenditure and the number of consultants engaged by my Department is set out in the following table. The information relates to the current configuration of my Department and does not include any expenditure in respect of functions that have transferred to other Departments, i.e. Rural Affairs, Social Enterprise, Climate Action, Environment and Community Development, which transferred out of my Department between 2016 and 2017.
| 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consultancy Expenditure | €0.784m | €0.495m | €0.436m |
| No. of Consultants engaged | 12 | 15 | 21 |
The names of the consultants are set out below as follows (1):
| A&L Goodbody Solicitors | |
|---|---|
| AECOM | |
| Artefact Limited | |
| ASM Chartered Accountants | |
| Bid Management Services | |
| Bruce McCormack | |
| CAAS Ltd(2) | |
| Capita Transformation(2) | |
| Deloitte | |
| Des Johnson | |
| Dr. Dagmar Stengel | |
| Eamon O'Boyle & Associates Limited | |
| Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) | |
| Expert Panel on Concrete Blocks | |
| Housing and Sustainable Communities Agency(2) | |
| PACEC(2) | |
| Invas Biosecurity | |
| Ipsos MRBI(2) | |
| IT Executive Focus | |
| KOSI Ltd | |
| Limerick Institute of Technology(2) | |
| Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) | |
| MacCabe, Durney Barnes | |
| Marine Institute | |
| Martinplan Consulting | |
| Mazars Consulting | |
| Mr. Hendrik W van der Kamp | |
| National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) | |
| O'Brien Learning | |
| Optimize | |
| Rory Mulcahy, Senior Counsel | |
| RPS Group | |
| School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin(2) | |
| Steering Group on Fire Safety Review |
(2) No expenditure incurred during 2015 to 2017.
My Department’s expenditure on consultancy has declined during the years in question and work will continue to ensure consultancy expenditure is kept to the minimum consistent with meeting key business needs.
In this regard, the Department’s consultancy budget is managed in accordance with Government policy and consultants are only engaged where specific expertise is required which is not available in the organisation at the required time. The approach taken is to secure outside assistance when it is needed and to work to obtain organisational learning from the engagement so as to reduce costs in the future. The Department uses its training and development budget to up-skill staff with expertise necessary for the ongoing performance of the Department’s business.
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