The Department of Defence has spent over R42.3 million on consultants in the last three financial years.
In an answer to a question asked in Parliament the department says reasons for using consultants rather than fulltime staff for certain tasks include that the department does not have available people with the skills required, particularly in the information technology field, where consultants from the State IT Agency and commercial company Gijima AST were employed.
“These skills are very scarce, expensive and are utilised in corporate projects. The remuneration dispensation of the DoD (PSA) does not allow for the salary level of the expertise required.”
The answer said the Defence Enterprise Information System Management Division in the defence secretariat utilised three consultants that were former employees was “because (a) the remuneration package for the same person with the same or similar qualifications would have been much higher for the department (b) better remuneration packages are offered by institutions like SITA.”
Other consultants employed include PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Defence Institute, the latter a business unit within the DoD`s Armscor agency.
The specific costs were:
· FY2005-06: R13 966 178.63
· FY2006-07: R12 565 314.11
· FY2007-08: R15 960 433.37
