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Lawmakers Question EU’s Reliance on Pricey Consulting Firms

Lawmakers Question EU’s Reliance on Pricey Consulting Firms

The European Parliament is looking into the European Commission’s increasing reliance on pricey contracts it awards to four of the world’s largest consulting firms to conduct studies or provide technical assistance for key initiatives.

The lawmakers are particularly concerned about the “significant increase” of resources assigned over the past years to Deloitte LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, according to a questionnaire sent the commission on Monday.

According to Bloomberg estimates based on the EU’s financial transparency system, the commission spent at least 618 million euros ($698 million) in projects awarded to the major four consulting firms between 2016 and 2020.

Members of the parliament’s budgetary control committee asked the European Union’s executive arm to provide details about the type of consulting services provided by these firms and an assessment of the results of their work.

The questions sent on Monday are part of the broader procedure for the parliament to approve the annual expenditures made by EU institutions in previous years. The European Commission didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

The commission has been spending more on contracts with these firms since it launched the Structural Reform Support program in 2017. That program provides technical assistance to member states to design structural reforms to their economies using commission services or external experts paid by EU funds. In 2020, the four major consulting firms obtained projects worth 28 million euros, or more than a third of the total of 75 million euros awarded.

Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said last June that hiring external contractors using public tenders is “a sensible option” when a task is temporary in nature or requires a special skill set.

He added in a written reply to concerns expressed by some EU lawmakers that consulting firms “are intended to bring the best and most tailored solution to the beneficiary member state, in the most economically advantageous manner.” 

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