Questions about real estate advisors Roc Leiden remain
There has been no clarification about all the earnings of consultants at Roc Leiden at the time of the new building. Two of the five consultancies involved did not respond when researchers requested information on behalf of Education Minister Bussemaker.
This is apparent from documents that Bussemaker sent to the House of Representatives last Friday, together with a new standings on education and financial recovery.
The good news from that update: the Education Inspectorate sees significant progress in the quality of education and exams. And the financial position is improving, thanks to a reduction in housing obligations, a cut in (personnel) expenses and 40 million euros in emergency support from other MBO schools. The minister is optimistic about Roc Leiden's future prospects, provided that the proposed merger with the ID College is continued.
liberate
In an appendix, the minister sent a report about the amounts that the ROC paid to consultancy firms with regard to the new building. from a confidential report from PricewaterhouseCoopers It was previously revealed that the ROC management hired more than nine million euros worth of external consultants between 2003 and the end of 2013.
Despite this, the then ROC leadership took it easy two major new construction projects at the stations Leiden Lammenschans and Central (CS). The Meurs committee ruled last year that advisers should have taken a more critical stance.
The Commision concluded moreover in its report that a complete and reliable picture of all payments could not be established. In addition, there were invoices without an agreement or order confirmation and some payments raised questions.
It turned out that the consultancy Ilfa had received an amount of 150 thousand euros from the ROC for concluding a deal with investment company Green Real Estate for the new CS building, while the consultant was also paid by Green.
Motion
As a result of the findings of the Meurs Committee, and the alleged double role, the House of Representatives a motion from CDA and SP to conduct an in-depth, 'integral inquiry' into the merits of consultants.
Bussemaker called in the agency Integis, but warned the Chamber in advance that even an in-depth examination of bank statements would probably not yield a complete insight. Because she felt that the costs did not outweigh the expected returns, Bussemaker decided to conduct a 'smaller' and cheaper study of the consultancy services provided. She predicted that research would take about three months and cost about 40 euros.
The Integis researchers have found no indications of impropriety such as conflicts of interest, they now write in the report. At the same time, they add that they 'may not have obtained all the facts' because relevant information is missing.
Two agencies, Arcadis and Ilfa, declined an interview with Integis and ignored written questions. Integis had no mandate to coerce the consultants and received no response to the questions despite repeated requests. Ilfa director Irma Langeraert told the researchers that she wanted to leave it at the explanation she gave in a previous study. Arcadis announced that it no longer has relevant archive documents and that the project employees involved have left.
Hourly rate of 450 euros
The researchers have questions, among other things, about the fact that the Ilfa agency submitted two types of invoices to the MBO school in one and the same period: one series with an hourly rate of 225 euros and another with an hourly rate of 450 euros (with regard to the new building). at CS). When asked about the difference, Ilfa did not provide a statement.
The reason in this case: the new building at CS is formally not included in the study. It now appears that Bussemaker has limited the research to the new building at Lammenschans; the new construction project at CS has not been taken into account. When she entered the room earlier this year several times informed made Bussemaker that distinction is not. A practical reason may have played a role: Integis has already looked at the earnings of consultants in relation to the new Lammenschans, at the time for the Meurs committee.
After the Meurs committee and the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, this is the third time that the hiring of consultants at Roc Leiden has been looked at. The closing remark with which Integis concludes the report is significant: 'We note that, now that the principle of adversarial procedure has not been finalized (in full), we may not be aware of all the relevant facts. We emphatically point out that the findings included in this report and incorporated references to natural and legal persons should be read in conjunction with this.'
Viewed in this way, this research into the use of public funds is actually a waste of money.
