Earlier this week the JEP revealed that the States were tendering for a contractor to assist Charlie Parker in his planned overhaul of the public sector’s working culture, as he seeks to streamline the organisation and tackle the ‘silo mentality’ of departments which do not co-operate with each other.
Mr Parker made his comments after it emerged that his ‘transition team’ of four UK consultants, who have already cost more than £400,000 to employ, had all been offered contract extensions despite being officially ‘stood down’ last month. A JEP editorial leader was highly critical of the situation, pointing out that neither Mr Parker nor his communications team had issued any public statement regarding his intention to outsource the cultural change work to a company after already parachuting in his hand-picked transition team.
In response, Mr Parker has written to the JEP saying that help is required to achieve his goals in such a large organisation as the States.
‘You imply that I should personally be able to roll up my sleeves and do everything that needs to be done to change the culture and performance of an organisation that you have long criticised for being top-heavy and self-serving,’ the letter says.
‘That might be achievable in a company of 100 people – it’s certainly not how you transform a complex organisation of 7,500 staff.’
A States spokeswoman said that ‘dozens of tenders’ were issued by the States and they were not all publicly announced via press releases, in particular when government communication was ‘limited to essential information’.
‘The tender was published in the normal way [including on the Channel Islands Tenders website], and therefore open to public scrutiny,’ she said.
‘There will be more information available when the procurement process is complete, a partner is appointed and the programme is ready to begin.
‘In addition, the chief executive had already announced to all staff, in events at Fort Regent before Easter, that the States would be engaging a partner to support culture change.’ She added that there would be ‘no favoured potential bidders’ for the tender and the States would encourage local companies to apply, as long as they offered ‘the best solution’.
‘If the successful company is from outside Jersey, there will be a requirement for that company to operate from a base in Jersey, so that our economy can benefit,’ she said.
