France's government must further rein in sometimes "inappropriate" hiring of consultancies, the country's Court of Auditors said Monday, responding to public outcry over an issue that hobbled President Emmanuel Macron's reelection campaign last year.
In a first-ever report compiled after requests from ordinary citizens, the court said calling in consultants had become the "easy option" for civil servants facing tight budgets and time constraints.
Their involvement had touched on "the heart of the administration's tasks" as well as "intervening in decision-making processes," the auditors wrote.
Between 2017 -- the year Macron was first elected -- and 2021, state spending on consultancies tripled to almost 234 million euros ($257 million), the report found.
That number rose to 890 million euros when IT consulting work was included.
A Senate report with similar findings published in March 2022 buttressed suspicions that the president and his ministers were too close to heavyweight outfits like US-based McKinsey, whose name became a common heckle against Macron ahead of the April vote.
The question was one of six taken up at the time by the Court of Auditors based on a public consultation.
But the court highlighted that spending on consultancies amounted to just 0.04 percent of state outlays last year.
"Externalising a part of the civil service's tasks raises no objection in principle," the auditors said
Nevertheless, consultancies' place should be "more appropriate and better controlled among the administration's different tools to carry out its missions".
The court called on the government to "put the finishing touches" to a January 2022 circular that aimed at limiting use of consultancies, which had been issued "under the pressure of events".
That decision has already brought down spending on consultants, with the state aiming to lower the figure by 35 percent this year compared with 2021.
The auditors also said the state should bring some capabilities back into the civil service and call on its own employees "whenever possible".
French senators have already passed a bill with stronger controls on hiring outside firms, although MPs have yet to debate it.
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