The Court of Auditors publishes late Monday morning its report on the use by the State of private consulting firms, a long-awaited document after the controversy triggered in 2022 by a vitriolic report from the Senate on the same subject.
Accustomed to controlling the action of public authorities, the Court will address this time at least as much to citizens as to decision-makers. The report on purchases of advice by the State was in fact produced following a consultation carried out by the institution with the French people in the spring of 2022, which brought out six subjects on which the Court undertook to investigate at the request of citizens.
A second “citizens’ initiative report”, devoted to public support for hunters’ federations, is to be published during the week.
McKinsey controversy
Regarding work on consulting firms, the first president of the Court of Auditors Pierre Moscovici promised in early July a report “up to the expectations it can raise”.
The state’s use of consultants was described as a “sprawling phenomenon” by Communist senators Éliane Assassi and Les Républicains Arnaud Bazin, in a report published in March 2022 a few weeks before the first round of the presidential election. Their work had poisoned the campaign of Emmanuel Macron, singled out for his alleged links with big names in consulting such as the American firm McKinsey.
35% drop in consulting spend
The government has meanwhile claimed to have reduced its spending on strategy and organization consulting by 35% between 2021 and 2022. It has also capped the amount of certain consulting purchases at two million euros and limited the number of contracts awarded. consecutively at the same firm.
In parallel with these efforts, a bill was widely adopted in the Senate in October to better regulate the State’s use of consultants. But it has still not been examined in the National Assembly and therefore does not apply for the moment.