[MFLoon]

I'm sure they are, but do the European governments equivalent of the GSA also have incentives to actually drive up the price of consulting contracts they source for their governments? It's not just the coziness that is concerning, but the particularly perverse incentive structure that essentially makes the GSA an inside agent of the consulting industry.

[michaelt]

Here in the UK we usually go for the traditional things: Consultants provide free assistants to ministers. Assistants advise that X is a superb idea. Government pays consultants for help implementing X, which they happen to be experts in. Then everyone impacted by X also hires the consultants to figure out what's going on. Later the minister leaves government and is hired for a £x00,000 salary for one day a week of 'advice'.