DCS must answer for AG findings on consultants

I am in possession of the Draft Management Report of the Auditor General (AG) on the use of consultants in the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), exposed by the Sunday Times today (see article).

Draft Management Reports of AG are presented to the Department for its comments and possible correction. It is therefore possible that some of the information contained in this Report is inaccurate. However, if even a fraction of what is contained in the Report is accurate, it is a shocking indictment of the administrative ineptitude of the DCS.

The Report covers the period 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2009, and audits projects amounting to R203,4 million. Some of the consultants were clearly necessary and delivered very valuable services, but others provided services that the DCS should itself have been providing, and the Report finds that there was substantial fruitless and wasted expenditure in services that were substandard, or not delivered at all. The Report also found that in many cases Treasury Regulations and Supply Chain Management policies were ignored, in some cases so recklessly that it borders on fraud.

The Report found, amongst other things, that:

• The DCS is dependent on the use of consultants, because of large numbers of vacancies, particularly amongst skilled workers. Accordingly, in some directorates - chiefly those dealing with information technology - the number of consultants outnumbered the DCS officials, in one case by 83 to 9. One consultant had been employed by the DCS for more than 16 years, and 9 have been there for more than 11 years.
• The DCS has no strategy or policy in place to reduce its dependency on consultants, and that very little skills transfer takes place to enable the Department to perform the functions performed by consultants, by itself.
• The DCS has overpaid consultants, in one case, by 81.75% in the 2008/9 financial year.
• In one case, a panel of consultants had itself evaluated a project, and made a verbal recommendation, on the strength of which a R11.7 million contract was awarded. It further appears that the consultants to the Department were themselves former employees of the DCS - meaning that far from skills transfers happening to the DCS, the flow of skills is going in the opposite direction.
• In several cases, the services that consultants were contracted to deliver were delivered late, or were unable to be delivered owing to changes to legislation or budget cuts, meaning that the money spent on the consultants was wasted.
• In another case, a contract awarded for the training of DCS managers was delivered, but the accommodation and meal costs (at the Burgerspark Hotel) exceeded its budget by R9.7 million. In another case, there was no proof that DCS officials attended training courses for which consultants were paid.
• In two cases, tenders were awarded to consultants which did not qualify for government business.

It is very clear that the DCS has a serious case to answer. Together with my colleagues on SCOPA, we will pursue this matter, and if irregularities or fraud was committed, we will ensure that the Minister and officials are held to account. But the DCS must attack the problem at its root, which is to appoint and retain the staff it needs to perform its core functions. It must also develop and implement a strategy to systematically reduce its dependency on consultants, one that is measurable and time-bound.

Statement issued by James Selfe, MP, Democratic Alliance shadow minister of correctional services, May 23 2010

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