APPENDIX 6
Memorandum from the British Consultants
Bureau
THE FUTURE OF THE EC DEVELOPMENT BUDGET
I understand your Committee are enquiring into
the nature and effectiveness of EC aid. The British Consultants
Bureau (BCB), representing some 280 British consultancy companies
and individuals working overseas, many of them on EC funded projects,
has severe reservations about the way EC aid programmes are managed,
particularly with regard to procurement and payment systems.
Our main problem with the procurement system
is the discrimination against British consultants by use of unofficial
country quota systems and artificially long "short"
lists to accommodate consultants from "weak" member
states. Our views on this matter, together with examples, were
given in a letter to the Secretary of States for International
Development (see Annex A). Two press cuttings are also included.[35]
When, despite these artificial hurdles, a British
(or, indeed, any other) consultant gets awarded a project, there
are increasingly serious problems about getting paid. The effect
on a consultant's cash-flow can threaten a company's very existence.
At present, the situation is particularly bad with the Tacis programme.
I attach letters (Annex B) to a senior DFID official and a copy
of our initial Press Release (Annex C) on this issue. There are
now five BCB member firms who are owed 1 million ECU each. Fifteen
BCB firms alone are owed a total of £4.25 million with many
owed lesser amounts. Payments are many months late! Any payments
delayed more than 60 days attract interest at Belgian equivalent
rates. Thus UK Development money is in part wasted on nugatory
late payments rather than being used for the purpose intended.
The creation of the Service Commun Relex (SCR)
by the Commission is a step in the right direction, but we are
keen to ensure that HMG keeps a very close watch on its management
to ensure that some of the totally unacceptable practises outlined
above are put right as quickly as possible.
Our submission to the Committee is that the
EC aid programme will continue to be poor value for money for
the British taxpayer and, most importantly, the recipients.
Colin Adams
Executive Director
British Consultants Bureau
28 September 1998
35 Not herewith printed. Back
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