§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list those consultants who have been engaged by his Department to advise on the management of individual local education authorities following Ofsted reports on them; how many companies have bid for each contract; what the criteria were against which the successful bidders were selected; and what is the total cost of these consultancy contracts. [103575]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 20 December 1999]: Six consultancy firms have been awarded framework contracts by the DfEE to undertake work in relation to LEA intervention. These are: PricewaterhouseCoopers; KPMG; The Office for Public Management; Lorien; Capita; and Arthur Andersen/ Birmingham LEA.
Under European Union procurement rules, we conducted a rigorous competition to establish framework contracts with consultancy firms. Framework arrangements allow the Department to appoint consultants quickly following an Ofsted report, without the need for a separate procurement exercise for each intervention case. 97 consultancy firms originally expressed an interest in the work and, following the competition, frameworks were established with six of them. In order to ensure maximum value for money, we have also held mini-competitions to let particular contracts.
The criteria for selecting the consultants included a proven track record in: understanding the nature of services provided by LEAs; working with service providers to improve service delivery standards; handling complex contract and project management arrangements; and preparing service related specifications.
The estimated overall cost of ongoing consultancy in Hackney, Liverpool, Islington, Leicester City and Haringey is £2.7 million including VAT. The costs are generally split between DfEE and the LEA concerned.