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£40m consultant bill 'unbelievably excessive'
Matthew Beard, Sports News Correspondent10 Nov 2008
OLYMPICS chiefs were today accused of "unbelievably excessive" use of consultants after paying £40million to outside advisers.
Official figures for Olympic Delivery Authority expenditure reveal that the agency spent more than £5million on recruitment consultants over the past three years.
The ODA, which is funded by the taxpayer, paid £5,257,036 to Rockpools, which specialises in placing executives in the public and voluntary sectors.
The firm was responsible for hiring former ODA chairman Jack Lemley in 2005, who departed acrimoniously after only a year in the job.
Other key appointments by Rockpools include ODA chief executive David Higgins, director of finance Dennis Hone, and design director Alison Nimmo. The ODA defended the amount paid to Rockpools, saying most of the costs were incurred during the start-up phase when they were without their own personnel department.
The bill includes at least £1million for advertising and the wages of some temporary staff working on the 2012 project, the ODA said.
The figures were disclosed in a parliamentary question by Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster. They reveal in detail the amount paid to consultants since the ODA's formation three years ago up to July this year.
In its first full year the ODA paid £20,684,165 to consultants. The following year the consultancy bill stood at £14,019, 574. In the last year, to July, the ODA spent almost £5million on consultants.
Fees range from £8.3million to Ernst and Young for advice and temporary staff to £15,975 to Ottaway Strategic Management for equality and diversity evaluation. In addition to the consultants, the ODA has building programme management experts CLM under contract for 2012. The consortium was last year paid £106million by the ODA for its services. The ODA insists that CLM is not a consultancy because it supplies a service to them, rather than advice.
Mr Foster, the Lib-Dem Olympics spokesman, said the use of consultants appeared "unbelievably excessive" considering the large numbers already employed at other public bodies to oversee the Games preparations. The Government Olympic Executive alone employs more than 70 staff to monitor costs.
He said: "Consultants do have a role to play in such a major project. But, with over a thousand civil servants already planning and scrutinising the work, this amount of consultancy seems unbelievably excessive."
An ODA spokesman said: "The use of consultancies was essential during the initial set up of the ODA to ensure we hit the ground running on what is a project with a fixed deadline. The ODA remains relatively small in size given that it is delivering the biggest construction project in Europe and the continued intermittent use of consultancies in specialist areas is helping maintain the strong progress."
Reader views (14)
dear Bob of Cheam at least you will be getting sports facilties, transportation upgrades, new houses and other goodies paid for by the rest of the UK. that is over and above the £16 billion alone being put into the Crosrail. the rest of the UK is paying not just London and the South East and they are getting the square root of foxtrot alpha. i agree that the whole exercise is a waste of money and resources and i think that there should be a clear and tranparent report on where the money has and i going especially what Lord Coe, his consultancies and cronies are getting out of this. lots of gravy (or jus as we now refer to it!)
- Ron Oliver, Edinburgh Scotland, 24/11/2008 13:04
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On 14th October 2008 the ES announced that the £40 million leisure 'legacy' pool at the Aquatic centre would be axed due to 'financial pressures'.
On 10th November your readers find out that £40 million has been spent on consultants......
This is why there will be so little true "legacy" from the Olympic Games; the bloated gravy train over which Tessa Jowell presides will have leave virtually nothing for those who should have benefited.
- Sally Wainman, Ipswich, England, 15/11/2008 13:09
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Why is anyone surprised?
Have you seen how much is spent on so-called consultants in the public sector???
We need to think about why poverty still exists in areas where the is greatest Government investment- because 90% of the investment goes to consultant salaries!!
- Dyan, London, 11/11/2008 09:42
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I keep telling you £20bn will be the final figure and that is without my consultants fees.
- Jimbob, Kensington, 10/11/2008 22:13
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How can I get on this gravy train?
- Roger Slade, Winchester, Hampshire, England, 10/11/2008 20:11
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these people are scum. criminals. there is no morality. contractors ripping off the games, bullshitters lying and deceiving.Coe at ther centre, protected by a massive PR machine. welcome to the olympics
- Mark Armstrong, london. uk, 10/11/2008 20:04
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When will the police get involved - this can only be fraud, there is no other sane conclusion.
- David Smith, Telford, Shropshire, 10/11/2008 18:54
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The old saying 'The Laws an Ass' comes to mind. Just because it's legal does not mean its right. It's the middle man philosophy. You could just employ someone to do the job or you stick someone in the middle to do the job of employing someone. Once the middle man in is in they rarely seem to go. The whole system is full of these people, consultants and advisers etc. In the case of the Olympics I wonder how consultancy firms may have links with government officials.
- Paul, London, 10/11/2008 17:47
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Just as I thought would happen civil servants should never run large capital projects they do not have the knowledge or the skill set.
- Duncan Bailey, Kent, 10/11/2008 17:44
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To some degree, I second Mike of London! It is time we had people at the helm and in the engine room who know how to define and cost objectives, know what they are doing and how to do it, without fear or favour, whether or not they come from the private or public sector and have pink, blue or brown skin. In the meantime, taxpayers, remember that the elections roll round soon enough, if we are not all in a state of complete chaos by then.
- Helen, norwich, 10/11/2008 13:58
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Olympic bosses' £40m consultant bill. WHY?
Is this some sort of back hand fiddle, who sanctioned this mad amount.
Now who are the real terrorist.
Alphonse Capone would sort out these guys scrounging off the Public.
- Mack, Hampshire, 10/11/2008 13:37
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You just know that this is going to be another "Dome" with soaring, runaway costs, mostly going to "consultants", lawyers and accountants. I bet the cost of actual construction is tiny in comparison.
- Wen, Oxfordshire, 10/11/2008 12:33
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What London urgently needs to increase the tax payers trust and confidence at this time on billion pound projects such as the Olympics and CrossRail is the appointment of some old school British patrician decision makers and procurers with a developed, objective public servant mindset and values.
The current client body decision makers nearly all appear to be appointed from the private sector supply chain they are procuring from?
- Mike, London, 10/11/2008 11:20
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It's okay, us Londoners will pay for it (again), we're loaded.
- Bob, Cheam, 10/11/2008 10:27
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