flag over Cabinet Offices (Photo credit: Erich Kesse)
A professional colleague recently brought to my attention that the UK Government Procurement Service (GPS) had recently announced the suppliers for the First Phase of ConsultancyONE, featuring the usual big name consulting firms.
Does this announcement effectively exclude professional interim managers and suppliers of interim managers from offering their services to the Public Sector?
Two or three years ago, I and a close number of professional colleagues saw the writing on the wall with David Cameron‘s Coalition Government which was hostile to professional interims and favored the big consulting firms that so often have failed to deliver effective value for money to the Public Sector. A few of us tried to form an embryo political action committee (PAC) and take the case to the Cabinet Office. We visited our members’ of Parliament who wrote to Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister. As a result of our intervention my colleague Tony Colwell and I were invited to speak to the GPS. We reported back to our industry to both individuals and service providers. My conclusion was that the industry was not ready for robust action.
After more than twenty years as a successful independent professional executive and consultant, I chose to retire and turn my life to other activities overseas. I blogged about my professional insights at that time. I am now writing from Borneo but still have vivid memories of the professional interim management industry twenty years ago, before it lost its way.
For me, the latest announcement from the GPS confirms that David Cameron’s Government favors the big consulting firms and has abandoned the independent professional management industry. Once again, I would stress that I am not referring to contractors. To avoid any possible ambiguity, I refer to the definition provided in my earlier blog entitled “What’s the difference between interim managers and management consultants?”
Personally, I envision a painful death for the interim management industry and fear for many of my former colleagues.
This blog will be widely circulated via my Twitter network, so hopefully it will generate some lively debate.
Do you agree with my conclusions or have a different view? All views are welcome.
