Ministry PR dept seeks marketing consultants
(CNS): A new government PR and marketing department within the innovation ministry, created to promote investment in the Cayman Islands, has issued a request for proposals from marketing consultants. InvestCayman was launched last year, describing itself as an investment promotion agency headed up by marketing professional Jane Scaletta, who was appointed to the top job because of her professional credentials and experience in promotion for both the Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) and the Department of Tourism (DoT). At the time of her appointment, she said she was delighted to “tell our story to the world”.
But the ministry is now seeking outside consultants to tell that story and provide “high-level marketing and media services to further the mission of InvestCayman”, according to the documents posted on the government’s procurement website.
InvestCayman has been described as a “single front door for significant investment in the Cayman Islands” around a “triple win”, where the investor, the government and the people of the Cayman Islands should all benefit.
Officials have said this new government department is intended to improve Cayman’s reputation internationally through strategic communications, brand management and the delivery of world-class service to client investors.
Described as “a white-glove concierge service”, the unit was created to make it easier to do business here, keep the Cayman Islands competitive and advise on policy when data indicates the need.
The tender documents stated that the selected marketing company will “further the mission of InvestCayman” and ensure the brand is aligned with the most up-to-date government objectives.
Whoever secures the contract will be tasked with “covering social media, online presence, brand identity, website updates, content and website/social media design, photo shoots, media audits, reputation management, digital media buying, general SEO services, influencer marketing (in investment arena), email marketing, reporting, POV consultation, collateral design and sourcing, and other digital marketing needs”.
There is no indication on the InvestCayman website how many people work in the department in addition to Scaletta, and the ministry has not stated why this work cannot be covered by existing in-house staff or through the employment of experienced individuals.
The request for proposals follows, over the last few months, a bid for consultants for a new cruise tourism and transport policy, design consultants for a general aviation terminal at the airport, business analysts consultants for Customs and Border Control, and international relations consultants for the London Office.
The use of consultants by the government came under the scrutiny of the Office of the Auditor General starting with a report in February 2018, which found a long list of issues surrounding their use. The OAG said the government was not planning, monitoring or justifying its use of consultants.
The office made a number of recommendations, especially the need for business cases and, alternatively, for the government to invest more in staff training and development to ensure that it has the skills and expertise it needs, reducing its overall spending on consultants.
In a follow-up report in January this year the OAG found that the government had not implemented all of the recommendations, and even the ones it had implemented, such as producing business cases before engaging consultants, it is not clear that has been happening.
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Category: Business, Financial Services, Government Administration, Politics
According to the procurement documents, it seems like the total annual fee will be $48,000
I know one C-suite Officer at a SAGC whose role covered 4 disciplines. Those functions were effectively conducted by that senior officer and 1 Manager with supervised teams in each discipline at the front-line levels, for 25 years
Within months after that Officer retired, he was replaced by 4 different C-Suite Officers (one for each separate discipline), 4 Managers and 4 Supervisors – all to do the same functions as those run by the previous 2-person management structure. Granted, the organization had grown but not to that degree!
From regular public commentary and inside info, it seems like the new arrangement is much less efficient – yet it co$t$ the public pur$e a very large chunk more!
Unfortunately, outsourcing functions is not suited to some public services. Sadly the above example is one.
She was hired under PPM/Unity.
Nop she was hired since the election!
Cayman is like the UK. And Cayman’s financial industry is like the UK’s North Sea oil industry. So there has been a bonanza but everything is frittered away and no part of the windfall has been saved.
If only Norway had been in charge, Cayman might have a nice little investment fund tucked away.
The government could easily retire the vast majority of senior civil servants within the ministries, authorities and departments that have hired consultants.
It’s hard to know all the details, but if this is mainly about outsourcing a needed function on a pay-as-needed basis instead of an expensive hire, then it’s a great solution (and one that my business is increasingly using these days, both from on-island and off-island sources).
Only if you expect it to be a one-off or short term function. Consultancy rates make sense in that context, not as a permanent solution to avoid payroll and benefit costs in the long run. (Not to be confused with outsourcing to cheaper labor markets, which may be part of what you’re speaking of)
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1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ YEARS without humans
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Promoting Cayman?
Run as fast as you can. with all that is going on in the world, most importantly with climate (compass special report today is sobering), I’d say if one is young, start working on getting a second home someplace continental.
Not sure what will make Grand Cayman uninhabitable faster: The Climate Change or The Dump. There is nothing meaninful one can do about the former and there are no and will be no solutions for the latter-flooding will spread the disease and chemicals from The Dump around Grand Cayman, and its fires byproducts will continue polluting (and accumulating) the air, your bodies and covering all surfaces-from buildings and soils to flora and fauna.
☢️📛 =>🦠🤮🤧😷🤕=>🆘=>👩⚕️👨⚕️=>🩺 💊💉=>⚰️🪦=>💀=>🛑🚷
I think your “BS” graphic is a bit harsh ladies. IMO one of Cayman’s major failures over the last 40 years has been allowing us to be constantly maligned in so much popular culture as the destination of choice for “the bad guys to hide their money”. Cayman Finance and Jude Scott do, IMO, an amazing job playing whack a mole with a lot of the official/political/political pretending to be charity attacks on our economy but some positive PR/challenging negative PR on social media/less official channels could be a job that pays for it’s self many, many times over (unlike literally thousands of other public sector jobs).
Real finance does not occur in Cayman. Just various games of hide the cigar. Real finance occurs where large banks have physical offices and people. They use Cayman as post boxes. Much of what happens “in” Cayman is still sketchy.
You clearly haven’t got a clue
But, but, but, the EY Report said we were supposed to outsource everything. Why is everyone complaining now?
Last I heard the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development had a high-level PR officer. Correct me if I am wrong.
A key role of that officer was the coordination of overseas PR agencies. What has happened to her? Surely, under her leadership and in coordination with the host of PR personnel in the government, the fulfilment of all of those responsibilities should be possible?
More people for a 9 to 5 joyride? This calls for a look by the ever-vigilant Auditor General.
Wrong Ministry. It is the new Ministry of Investment, Innovation and Social Development that has a Senior Policy Advisor, Global Communications who was employed in the same role under the former Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs.
You realize it’s hard to read all that with a straight face.
The very last thing Cayman needs right now is more outside investment. Look around, the best real estate and prime businesses are all owned by foreign investors. To own a house now requires a $150,000 minimum salary and it is only going to get worse. Look at Bermuda. Easily remedied with an annual property tax and income tax for foreign investors. No other country on the world (literally) allows foreign investors to buy up the best real estate, build with no property tax, rent with no income tax and sell with no capital gains tax. Cayman gets nothing in return except for ridiculously priced real estate. It’s utter madness.
The ultimate wealthy tax evasion country on Earth, becoming more and more gentrified one overvalued proprety at a time.
Low to average salary Caymanians have no little to no chance of home ownership now and those chances decrease by the day.
Not even low to middle income. A teacher with a family on this island is now living in poverty.
As much as I HATE to say this. Maybe we should trim to Papa Dart for help. I am against a LOT of things that he has done, closed off beach access, destroying out natural environment, reneged on the dog park and camp grounds, however he could not have done any of that without the go ahead from Caymanians.
In the end, Dart is a successful businessman first and foremost. I’m sure there are many business areas in which he would be able to assist CIG.
Start running CIG as a business instead of a social service department, revamp our education action system, get rid of the entitled attitude of Caymanians and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get somewhere.
You say, ” Dart is a successful businessman first and foremost.”
I disagree! I think he was smart enough to get out of the United States when they wanted him to pay his taxes on his plastic foam business, but maybe I would have skipped out too if I owed them that much money.
Spend money on learning how to actually do your jobs competently, not on trying to tell people you can when in reality the standard is lamentable.
I know a person on-island who applied & interviewed to do this exact work for InvestCayman, internally. It was evident the leadership of InvestCayman has no idea what they are doing and are beyond their depth. Chose not to pursue the position.
There’s room on the dusty GOAB shelves for another report?
No, 8:42, there’s no room there because of all the BS. But they can be stored in the old Glass House which we seem incapable of deciding what to do with, despite all these “strategic policy advisors” on C grade salaries.
PACT creating jobs for friends.
Maybe, but there is no comparison with the jobs that PPM gave Alden’s friends.
It’s another Bobos club I tell ya
Just had a cruise through the procurement site.
I notice this is an RFP.
I also notice that this RFP wants a proposal, clients, portfolio etc. … which is all well and good, I suppose…
However, I also see a lot of “closed”or “cancelled” RFPs and RFQs in the past opportunities section.
It’s a real world problem right now of businesses asking for a
“How would you do it?”
AND THEN
taking and implementing YOUR ideas and hard work without giving you the job or paying you for your ideas.
Wouldn’t be the first time this has happened under this woman’s watch.
Sounds like somebody is looking for someone to do her job and cover her bunky because she is a clueless dinosaur.
Does she have a TIktoc or Bitcoin wallet ? I bet she has no earthly idea…
Not to worry. Cayman can’t implement anything, even stolen plans.
Oh… but they can!
One absolute bastardization of someone else’s idea that they threw oodles of dosh at so they could appear to have the best.
Can’t wait for the ” influencer marketing ” promo’ video slots.
Yeah, like the leather handbags…
As soon as the annual budget ballooned to unimaginable levels (we are talking billion dollar budget cycles now), the need to expropriate as much of it as possible via crony contracts and consultancy arrangements has become critical.
Invest Cayman is the brainchild of Chief Officer Error Bush under the previous PPM led UNITY government. Once you understand the genesis of this expensive mess it will all make sense as he only hires his like minded people that are useless. God help the people and government of the Cayman Islands.
Time to investigate blow up everything thing that Eric Bush started in MIATA on behalf of PPM. It was all about jobs for friends and an expensive disaster to travel and waste monies.
It seems like that’s all we got from PPM…… I thought it was all a “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours!
He was a pro at breaking big projects into smaller bits, so he could bypass the tendering limits.
Auditors can’t see through this cheap ruse?
He still is at it I guess..God help Cayman!
Waste like Mac and entourage go on a jolly to Spain you mean,,?
The legacy of waste and incompetence lives on in Invest Cayman, Eric B that stands for bumbling and PPM
Wait!!! – Surely we need consultants to advise on the terms of reference for the consultants who will advise on the terms of reference for the elected geniuses we have who probably don’t know how to spell either consultant or terms of reference.
Great idea, but lacks substance. The civil service have become a world class shitshow. All the lipstick in the world cannot fix that pig, and God (and investors) don’t like ugly.
The buck stops with Deputy Governor Franz Manderson and his lackeys that were hand picked by him
With the exception of the Auditor General I am yet to see a single department that consistently does its job. With WORC, it does not matter whether you employ Caymanians or not. Just who you know. Anyone notice how much things have changed with a simple election, but no change in law? How is that even possible if the Civil Service has been dispassionately applying the same law all day, every day? The DCI has not met its legal obligations for decades. Not a single prosecution for fronting in 30 years, and yet it is mainstream. How long has it been since Champion House was ordered to pay pensions? How many hundreds of the poorest in our community have no pensions. The Department of Education continues to graduate hundreds of young people every year, with no prospect in them competing in a modern knowledge and skills driven economy. Have the cops even noticed the political connections of many of the law-breakers that seem so immune from enforcement. Come to think of it, screw them too. Yet to even investigate the overt corruption apparent in many of the Cabinet Status Grants.
Auditor General is not a Department of the CIG.
The Office of the Auditor General is independent of the organizations that they audut.
“Auditor General is not a Department of the CIG”. Is this true? I do not believe so. He/she is appointed by the Governor and the governance of the department falls under the PSML and PMFL. The pay grades of staff, including the A-G, are governed by the Civil Service scale. If it walks like a dck, quacks like one etc etc. But yes, it is seen as independent and functions as such (whether it is truly so is another matter) and I think we are fortunate to have Ms Winspear, who combines tenacity and a high degree of competence while eschewing the grandstanding press conferences favored by at least two of her predecessors.
Yes.
Don’t come.
Absolutely love the graphic that was used to illustrate this article… right on point, says it how it is!
Yup, that made my day CNS!
I think they need a consultancy project to investigate whether they are hiring enough consultants.
Government already has marketing consultants in USA, Europe and South America.
Surely one of these could be tapped to give advice within their existing contracts.
Nobody in the civil service stops to consider another, less expensive way of meeting their needs. Not their money, why should they care,?
CIG hired multiple consultants for the dump, and yet PACT says they don’t know why is going on.
UDP we’re making arrangements to hand out dump solution contracts, then they fell out amongst themselves over who was getting what out of it.
Remember Mac being sued by one of his own ?
Thank you CNS for your “Bullshit Meter” pic for this story. It made me smile and I really needed that today.
Should have been used during the Covid press conferences
Just talk abd more talk as usual, with nothing coming out of it besides spending /wasting taxpayers money.
PACT Seeks Consultancy for Everything”
At a press conference after today’s announcement, a Government spokesperson reiterated that when the T for Transparency was added to the PAC vision, they were not joking! It is in the spirit of transparency that they’ve taken the decision to outsource all of Government’s required advising to consultants. The spokesperson went on to say that the decision was taken ‘reasonably easily’ amongst Cabinet (after convincing a few Ministers) when it was agreed by majority that, as most Cabinet Ministers are absolutely green and lost in their respective realm, others with tenure have repeatedly failed to deliver, most of their primary advisers i.e. Department Heads and Chief Officers are also clueless, lazy or otherwise useless, it stood to reason that to get anything done in it’s remaining three years, PACT must get advice from people who allegedly know, regardless of the subject.
The spokesperson said Government acknowledged that this is a costly approach but mused that it will be worth it in the long run…..at least to some.
Meanwhile, the ‘caucus’ is considering revising the “C” in the PACT acronym!
It shows a lack of talent and trust at the Chief Officer levels and HOD’s that are supposed to be the technical advisors to the elected policy makers the politicians.
Would you really trust any of the senior ministry staff and Chief’s to lead a project given the woeful track record of the civil service and Chiefs over the past 30 years?
Wait, there must be more RFPs for consultancies coming…how about one to review the efficacy of OFReg?
Please, please don’t give them anymore ideas! All will be well with the new Interim CEO, Mr Peter Gough now at the helm of OfReg. He is extremely knowledgeable about reinvention of Government strategies and is a well-respected and long standing stalwart in our World Class civil service! He will sort them out!
Peter Gough? Really? He’s nice as a person but how many times can he be recycled?
Please don’t diss Mr Gough! He has diverse skills and a unique understanding of how government and its SAGCs should be run. Remember he was on of the great cheerleaders for the implementation of the Public Authorities Act, the Procurement Act, Public Service Management Act and the Public Finance & Management Act. The World Class Civil Service should be grateful that he is still providing service to his country.
Mr Gough will have OfReg operating as it should before the new and extremely well-qualified CEO is hired.
Of course, the E&Y report did recommend amalgamation of the separate regulatory agencies that OfReg is now responsible for as it would save Government $250,000 per year….. Not sure what went wrong with that prediction of E&Y…..
No discredit to Mr Gough’s achievements,8:48,but this comment gets the Order of the Brown Nose Award. Are you the ‘new and extremely well qualified CEO” in line to take over from him?
Jeeze…. I thought we were done with OfReg. Sad, sad, sad.
Your joking bobo, right?
6:54. Seriously only a civil servant can sort out offreg. Looks at what the private sector boards have accomplished.
What we need is more housing that doesn’t cost $300+ per sq foot. The only foreign investment I’m seeing is them buying (or developing) half million dollar 1-bed apartments and further driving up the market for the rest of us that actually need somewhere to live.
You seem to need a lesson on basic economics. More development = more housing supply = lower prices. Stopping development will cause prices to increase, not decrease.
LOL. As if any developer is actually building truly affordable housing for the majority of locals.
So, PACT hires Ms. Scaletta to tell them they need consultants to guide her to deliver what they hired her for in the first place?? Oook! Value for money?? Go PACT!
Hold on for a rough ride peeps, reminds me of the late 70s/early 80s when “consultants” to Government were popping-up all over the place!
The buck stops with Deputy Governor Franz Manderson and his lackeys that were hand picked by him
FIRE ALL of them that are clueless start at the top and work down. Time to drain the swamp
5:28. Fire who? The private sector board members who can’t run our statutory authorities.
Surely you don’t mean fire the civil servants who watch over you ever day. How ungrateful.
The eeeediat is the one who keeps hiring her! CIG is a joke
If only the Deputy Governor would employ consultants tasked with providing advice on how to run the Civil Service.
The 5k could definitely do with a consultant or two.
Actually, at last check, it has 7.
Of course, because there is one for the Start, Finish then one for each K of the 5K!!!
5K is an abbreviation. I think it is closer to 500K (CI).
The take away is that we should adopt direct democracy with the public voting on all issues. That would allow us to save billions by cutting out the useless intermediatiaries – ie PACT and the civil service – and just have people who know what they are doing report directly to the public who then decide by electronic voting.
I hope they will first hire Cayman Consultants or Consultants domiciled here. I also hope they will treat this the way they are treating work permits. Not reviewing or approving anything until full Cayman employment. I hope CIG holds itself to the same standard they expect from the Private Sector.
Apparently the celebrated hires and team leaders don’t know what they’re doing.
“There is no indication on the InvestCayman website how many people work in the department in addition to Scaletta, and the ministry has not stated why this work cannot be covered by existing in-house staff or through the employment of experienced individuals.”
A marketing firm to help a marketing unit, created for the sole purpose of marketing one aspect of financial services.
“A marketing firm to help a marketing unit, created for the sole purpose of marketing one aspect of financial services”
Defo requires a consultant report on the previous consultant and marketing strategy reports so they can report back to us?
This is a complex area and needs professional attention. I think that the resources that the right consultant will bring could not be replicated affordable by the department.
So says the pre-selected “consultant”.
We need more wetlands preserved.
You can watch Bobo and Teedee explain on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UReZ80TkPhs&t=6s