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STU/66th Council/14/017
21 October 2014

195 EX/5: Follow-up to decisions and resolutions adopted by the Executive Board and the General Conference
at their previous sessions

Part V: Human resources issues

B.   Use of consultant contracts in 2013 and the implementation of the revised policy on individual consultants and other specialists

STU Addendum

As in 2012, STU wishes, once again, to draw the Executive Board’s attention to certain failures and inconsistencies with regard to the use of consultants and the selection procedures.

STU notes a flagrant increase in the use of consultants in 2013 primarily in the Culture, Sciences and Communication and Information Sectors, which were the most affected by restructuring and post abolition. The systematic and large-scale use of external expertise in the programme sectors and field offices is ongoing as a result of staff reductions in the Organization and a large number of vacant or downgraded posts. It is important that the skills required are first sought internally before any experts are hired.

The measures taken to strengthen monitoring of competitive bidding, duration and threshold of remuneration must be reinforced. Indeed, it is necessary to examine the number of contracts established by the sectors and bureaux, the level of expertise required and the systematic use of the same consultants to achieve different goals achievable in the short term. Wherever possible, the Organization should consider other means to achieve its objectives and expected results, based primarily on existing staff, and explore the possibility of creating posts by using existing skills and/or training.

The breakdown of the geographical distribution of consultants by regional group (Table 10) shows a major imbalance in favour of Group I (59% of the total) in 2013, both at Headquarters (59%) and in the field (21%). This imbalance in the geographical distribution of consultants is inconsistent with the Organization’s best interests: a more rigorous selection process would provide a wider range of expertise that is more representative of the Organization.

Lastly, the recruitment of former or recently retired staff as consultants is not acceptable to STU. Knowledge should be transferred prior to the separation of staff, whether for retirement or any other reason. Staff would therefore be able to devote themselves to their tasks more quickly and the institutional culture would be maintained to a higher degree.

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