ANNEX B
Letter from the British Consultants Bureau
to Mr. Richard Manning, Director-General, Resources, Department
for International Development
LATE PAYMENT OF TACIS INVOICES
I am writing to highlight the alarm of BCB members,
who are involved in Tacis projects, concerning the major problem
of late payment of invoices.
For some considerable time my members have been
expressing concern that the payment of their invoices by Brussels
was becoming excessively protracted. Indeed in 1997 for example
a sub-contractor of a BCB firm was forced into liquidation by
cash-flow problems resulting from delayed payments. The situation
has now reached a head because we understand that the Tacis Accounts
Department has not touched any invoices which have been sent to
them since 15 May! Particular examples of companies affected are
described briefly in Annex 1. I have deliberately omitted naming
them but will do so privately if need be.
The EU regulations state that invoices should
be paid within a maximum 60 days—with a target of 30. Members
have regularly experienced delays of up to 90 days, sometimes
even greater. Apparently invoices submitted in April are only
now being paid.
The Tacis accounts office is—not putting
too fine a word on it—a complete dog's breakfast. There
are filing cabinets full of unpaid invoices; the staff is not
simply under-manned but has been described as "skeletal".
Furthermore hearsay has it there are major concerns about the
head of department who has such a difficult manner, she is unable
to retain appropriately trained staff. And now, to make matters
worse we understand that with the summer holidays little activity
took place in August. The invoices have all been crated up and
will not be touched for at least two weeks while the Tacis Accounts
Department moves its location and goes into the new SCR.
This apparent administrative shambles is further
exacerbated by DG XX who exercise the financial control. They
now insist that invoices are only sent to them from the TACIS
Accounts Department in batches of 50—yet another built-in
delay, particularly if your invoice was No. 1 of the batch!
We note with some irony an article in the European
Voice (copy attached)[36]
that MEPs are pushing for Member States to meet their financial
obligations to the Commission within 60 days or to pay interest.
We accept that Brussels will pay interest on late payments but
for two reasons this seems total unsatisfactory:
— Why should British Development money
be wasted in paying nugatory interest simply to cope with Brussels
bureaucratic inefficiency?
— While invoices are delayed companies
are experiencing severe cash-flow problems.
We are very alive to the aim of SCR, in attempting
to sharpen-up the accounts and other procedures of DGs 1A and
B, and DG VIII. Nevertheless it does not bode well for the future
if the new SCR Combined Accounts Department has to begin its work
with arrears of invoices of between four to six months.
Your draft Strategy paper on DFID Partnership
with the EC, which in general we strongly applaud and support,
highlights that financial management systems in the EC are cumbersome,
and identifies the problems of late payments. Furthermore in your
"Objective 8" we take note that you are supporting the
work of SCR in trying to streamline such procedures, etc. It seems
to us in BCB that if there is one area that requires a great deal
of international focus, it is this extraordinarily burdensome
system of late payments. I would be most grateful if you could,
in conjunction with DTI and UKRep colleagues do what you can to
alleviate what is for some companies (and not just SMEs), a potentially
lethal problem.
Colin Adams
Executive Director
British Consultants Bureau
8 September 1998
36 "Prompt payment Scheme set to gain strong
backing from MEPs, European Voice, 3-9 September 1998, not
herewith printed. Back
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