- Funding Programme
- Year
- 2023
Developing government consulting capacities in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, and Latvia
Governments across the world are recalibrating their use of private consulting services and developing their in-house consulting capabilities. Funded through the European Commission’s Technical Support Instrument and implemented by UNESCO, this multi-country project supported the public administrations of Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, and Latvia in the design and operationalisation of the required reforms.
The central reform question advanced through this project is not whether external providers should be used, but for what purposes, at what scale and under what conditions. The overall reach to the market for consulting services cannot be sustainably reduced without parallel investment in internal consulting capacities. Budget discipline and procurement levers – while critical – are not sufficient to steer the use of external consultants across government or to drive lasting and at-scale insourcing, leaving objective internal needs unmet and constraining delivery.
As such, the government consulting reforms supported through the project act along three complementary axes by (a) strengthening the stewardship of government-wide use of external consultants, (b) expanding the direct provision of in-house consulting services, and (c) reinforcing the governance of risks associated with external expertise. As the participating Member States entered the project at different levels of maturity, support across these axes was calibrated to their existing consulting capacities and national conditions.
Context
Government consulting reform is both a priority and a sensitive area of need.
The prioritisation is driven by clear capacity gaps and efficiency gains associated with better triage of governments’ reach to the market for consulting services, value maximisation from necessary contracts, and insourcing at scale on priority needs. This project is funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by UNESCO, in cooperation with the European Commission. This document was produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
The sensitivity is informed by ongoing national audits, finance inspections, parliamentary inquiries, and public scrutiny into the upward trend in the use of consultants, the associated economic and non-economic costs, and the hollowing out of public sector capacities. This is coupled with strong awareness within governments of the need to reform and, importantly, to address the structural drivers behind such demand.
Support delivered
Combining customized support to each Member State and cross-country fertilization of results, the project delivered:
- Action plans for the establishment of in-house consulting focused on a selected service portfolio tailored to each participating Member State;
- Capacity building for the implementation of the reform through hands-on, on-the-job support and trainings for the six participating Member States; and
- Increased awareness on the importance of in-house consulting and creation of an EU network, ensuring synergies and cooperation amongst the Member States beyond the project.
Results achieved
The project provided comprehensive support to Member States, from establishing baselines on governments’ use of external consultants and developing reform scenarios to embedding these in strategies and supporting their operationalisation. Particularly noteworthy are:
- Ratification by the Greek Parliament of the law on national government consulting developed through the project (Law 5225/2025).
- Integration of project results and commitment to consulting reform in Belgium’s Coalition Government Programme.
- Use of project results in the national audits on governments’ use of external consultants by the Belgian (2025) and Latvian (planned) Courts of Audit.
- Delivery of 24 country reports, including as-is and to-be diagnostics, reform scenarios, and roadmaps for their implementation.
- Provision of 14 workshops and 44 on-the-job support sessions for reform operationalisation.
- Development of a global Reform Blueprint to support further reform adoption within and beyond the six Member States.
- Establishment of the EU Network of Government Consultancies.
This dual strategic-operational support contributes to the sustainability of reforms, while cooperation with national oversight bodies strengthens national ownership and government-wide follow-up.
More about the project
You can read the documents related to the project here: