The Interior Ministry is defending a contract for the provision of consultancy and auditing services, considering them to be necessary for the systematic modernisation and effective management of the ministry, ministry spokesperson Matej Neumann stated in response to the criticism levied by the opposition parties PS and SaS.
The ministry explained that the scope of the agenda and the number of changes require specialised professional capacities, noting that this is a framework agreement and that the services are only needed temporarily. Neumann also assured that the expenses won't jeopardise the salaries of police officers or other ministry employees.
The ministry points out that it prepares and manages investments and reforms worth hundreds of millions of euros from EU funds and the state budget. According to the spokesperson, such a scale of change requires specialised professional capacities. The ministry emphasised that it only needs them temporarily, during specific phases of projects and added that it would be financially inefficient and time-consuming to build all such specialised positions internally. "External consultancy therefore complements internal teams and enables reforms to be implemented faster, with higher quality, and with an emphasis on value for money," said the Interior Ministry.
PS criticised the tender worth nearly €33 million for consultancy and auditing services, arguing that instead of saving money and reducing staff numbers during fiscal consolidation, the ministry is hiring external consultants who are twice as expensive as internal employees. The criticism was also echoed by SaS, which called on the interior minister to scrap the tender immediately and explain to the public why they want to spend tens of millions of euros in this manner.
Source: TASR
