Policy consulting in developing countries: evidence from the Philippines

ABSTRACT

No one can deny the importance of policy advice in the affairs of the government but the actual role played by consultants in policymaking is poorly understood and little researched, particularly in developing countries where data are scarce. This article is an initial attempt at examining the demand for policy consulting in a developing country. It sought to confirm whether the trends in policy advice – externalization and proceduralization – found in developed countries are present in an emerging economy such as the Philippines based on an extensive coding and analysis of a recently made public database of bid notices for consulting services. The study confirms that the demand for external policy advice is growing in Philippines, as expected from a government of a developing country. The proceduralization hypothesis of externalizing process-related work is partially confirmed but strategic policy advice is also found to be important where the government almost equally also outsources substantive, highly specialized advice. However, administrative politicization is not observed in this data set. A new category of advice is also generated – training – to capture demands of the bureaucracy to delivery advice expeditiously through workshops facilitated by experts.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy consultant
• policy advice
• externalization
• Philippines

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Other business categories include laboratory supplies, garments, advertising, air-conditioning services.

2. Examples of these titles are ‘Invitation to Bid’, ‘Request for Expression of Interest’, ‘Consulting Services’, ‘Job Order’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kidjie Saguin

Kidjie Saguin is a PhD Candidate at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Broadly, he is interested in comparative public policy, social policy and governance. His research is primarily concerned with understanding the factors and processes that underlie the ability to undertake large-scale reforms in emerging economies.