Two senators want to strengthen the transparency of consulting missions and the ethical obligations of consultants, to limit the risks of conflicts of interest.
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How to learn the lessons from the scandal of the consulting firms? After its explosive report published in March, the Senate wants to move on to practical work. Denouncing the government’s “inaction” in the face of the revelations of this report, the Senators Eliane Assassi (Communist Party) and Arnaud Bazin (Les Républicains) tabled, Tuesday, June 21, a transpartisan bill to supervise the appeal of the State to private consultants, which quantified more than a billion euros in 2021.
“We want to put an end to the all -round appeal to consulting firms and avoid the excesses observed by the commission of inquiry: the opacity, the uncontrolled proliferation of the services, the dispossession of the State on strategic missions and the Ethical risks and conflicts of interest, “said Arnaud Bazin, who chaired the work of the Senate commission of inquiry for four months, from November to February.
Without “[questioning] the professionalism of consultants, which can provide useful support to administration, on well -defined needs upstream”, the senators intend to “strengthen the supervision of their services and make them more transparent, to limit the influence of consulting firms on public policies and avoid drifts “.
Anticipating the revelations of the Senate, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, had taken the lead by publishing on January 19 A circular in this direction. This vague document, without binding nature, did not convince Communist Eliane Assassi, who sees it as “a wall of paper in the face of the multiplication of advice services”. “Our bill goes much further than the announcements of the government,” says the former rapporteur of the commission of inquiry.
opacity and mix of genres
The two senators first propose to “put an end to the opacity of advice services”, noting that their existence remains so far “most often unknown to citizens but also civil servants”. For this, they wish to force the State to publish each year the list, the cost and the subject of the missions entrusted to firms. The ministries would also be invited to systematically produce an a posteriori assessment of the quality of the services, which would be made public.
While the commission of inquiry highlighted several cases of mixing genres and conflicts of interest around consultants, senators wish to strengthen their ethical obligations. To avoid suspicion of elevator references, the bill just wants to prohibit pro bono services (voluntary commitment of professional skills), made free of charge by consulting firms in return for visibility, like McKinsey, which had co -organized the Tech for Good summit at the Elysée.
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