The Corporate Enforcement Authority (CEA) hired an independent human resources consultant to help it tackle allegations of a “toxic” workplace after she was recommended as a candidate for the role by the CEA’s chief executive.
In a statement, the CEA confirmed that Yvonne Clancy was hired through a procurement process after Ian Drennan, its chief executive, “suggested” that she be approached.
Clancy formerly worked with Drennan at the Medical Council, where she was first hired as a consultant but then became interim chief executive at a body where Drennan is a board member.
Clancy’s firm was selected for the CEA contract even though the one other company to bid offered a lower price.
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Last year the Medical Independent reported how the Medical Council paid Clancy €522,000 for her work over two years but that her hiring was “not fully aligned” with its procurement policies.
The CEA has paid Clancy €15,000 since she was hired last November to help it deal with a staff survey that gave the CEA a staff satisfaction score of 54 per cent, 20 per cent below the public sector average.
At a Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing in January, where it was queried over complaints about its “toxic” work environment, Suzanne Young, director of governance and support operations at the CEA, said an external consultant had been hired to hold staff workshops.
“That was going to be an independent person who was running it, which meant that it would give independence in terms of hearing their voice,” said Young.
Records released under Freedom of Information show that just one company other than Clancy’s Empowering Leadership Ltd submitted a bid for the CEA’s HR consultancy position. Four were invited to submit bids.
Young contacted three people last October 24th, inviting them to submit tenders within seven days for creating an action plan to help the CEA “foster a thriving, high-performing workplace” that would be informed by its staff survey.
Clancy was contacted through LinkedIn, while two other organisations received emails with the same invitation to tender. All were given a deadline of October 31st to submit bids.
Two of those approached declined to bid. Young approached another firm, Stepstone Consulting, on October 29th, inviting it to submit a tender two days before the deadline.
After receiving the submissions from Clancy and Stepstone, Young set up a meeting with Drennan on November 4th. In an email she noted that four consultants were asked to bid for the contract and said this met the CEA’s procurement policy requirement to seek a minimum of three written bids. She attached the two written bids and set a meeting with Drennan to “discuss the next steps”.
A memo, which was created on November 7th by Young, set out how she was recommending selecting Clancy for the role despite Stepstone offering an initial lower price and shorter timeline.
Young’s memo said Clancy’s proposal offered “superior long-term strategic value, transparency and assurance of successful implementation”.
The memo said the decision hinged on the CEA’s priority. If cost was the “absolute priority” then Stepstone offered the lower lump-sum fee. It said Clancy’s offer was “the more robust choice” and this justified the higher cost because of “superior implementation controls, risk mitigation and strategic expertise”.
The CEA said Drennan was not involved in the procurement process and had no conflict of interests.
“Merely being acquainted with a person through the discharge of professional responsibilities does not, under ethics in public office or otherwise, amount to a conflict of interest, actual or potential,” it said.
It said that Clancy’s work was “highly regarded” by the Medical Council. It was on this basis that Drennan suggested to CEA staff that she “might be worth adding to the list of HR professionals” who would be approached to tender.
The CEA said Drennan disclosed that Clancy was known to him from their Medical Council work, “notwithstanding the absence of any conflict, actual or potential”. The CEA said Drennan also suggested two other service providers who could be approached.
It said Drennan did not play any role in evaluating the tenders.
Drennan granted approval for the contract with the successful tenderer at his meeting with Young on November 4th, after she gave him a verbal briefing, the CEA said.
Clancy said she was unaware that Drennan had suggested her for the role. She said the Medical Council had publicly acknowledged her professionalism, and its procurement issue was an internal matter.
