Cape Town. The defence department had spent more than R203m on consultants with about R23m on the strategic defence packages during the past two years, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said yesterday.

The extensive use of consultants by government departments has been a topic of debate for years, with R1,6bn spent across all government departments in 2000-01.

This prompted Public Service Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi to announce in May last year no former public servants would be used as consultants and for a guide to the use of consultants to be produced by Parliament, with European Union help.

Lekota, in reply to a question from Democratic Alliance MP Mike Waters, said in the past two years about R155m was spent on medical consultations. He said R25m was spent on "general" consultation and R23m on the strategic defence packages.

Lekota provided a breakdown of the consultants used in the arms deal process, which could cost the taxpayer more than R50bn when contracts are filled.

Aerotek Intertechnic Engineering was paid R1,1m for staff support in the 2000-01 financial year and R586 000 in 2001-02.

Aerospace and Consulting Services got R252 802 in 2001-02 for data gathering for user requirement specification and study phase for air force needs.

Bureau Veritas got R33 000 for assessment of aircraft certification and qualification processes of the air force acquisition, while Naschem got R148 000 for certification for filter documentation.

Epsilom Engineer Services got R3,8m in the two years for systems engineering tasks for the air force acquisition and about R300 000 for work on "certification documentation" for that.

Aserma Manufacturing got R113 000 in 2000-01 for developing a "bomb fuse" in the air force acquisition. Reutech got R3,8m for qualifying design of the fuse.

Grintek Avitronics got R10 000 for development of an instrument landing system at Waterkloof air force base. Xcel Engineering & Management was paid slightly more than R2m for specialist logistics services.

Denel Aviation got R5,5m for mission planning and ground support for the air force acquisitions during the two years. Jet Aviation of Basel Switzerland got almost R90 000 for the upgrade of a Falcon 900 VIP Aircraft.

The public works department got R217 000 for design specification for facilities. Plessey Telumat was paid R3,3m for improvements in radar systems.

KPMG of Sweden got R58 000 for structuring of tax packages for the air force acquisition. Futuristic Business Solutions received R182 000 in 2000-01 for a project study to identify Y2K compatibility. BMT was paid R300 000 for a risk management model.

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.