Adam Smith International
Consulting arm affiliated with the Adam Smith Institute; major UK aid and CSSF contractor, notably for Syrian Free Syria Police / AJACS and moderate-armed-opposition support
| Adam Smith International
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Private company / international development consultancy |
| Status | Active |
| Headquarters | Westminster Tower, 3 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SP |
| Services | Programme design and delivery in fragile states; fund management; public-administration reform; strategic communications |
| Key people | Peter Young (International Director); William Morrison; David Storer; Sir Malcolm Rifkind (board) |
| Website | adamsmithinternational.com |
| Remarks | Affiliated (self-financing) with the Adam Smith Institute; major CSSF/FCDO recipient; implementer of AJACS / Free Syria Police and bidder for moderate-armed-opposition support |
Adam Smith International (ASI) is the consulting arm of the conservative think tank the Adam Smith Institute. While some web-based resources describe the two as entirely separate, Baroness Amos described Adam Smith International as “affiliated” but financially independent in 2004:
- Adam Smith International Limited, which is the consultancy arm of the institute, is a separate organisation. It is affiliated to the institute as a self-financing commercial organisation.[1]
On its website ASI calls itself “a leading independent international development consultancy, based in London with a registered office in Delhi and major project offices located in developing and transitional countries worldwide.” Its aim is to apply its professional and consulting skills “towards improving the quality of life for the citizens of countries facing economic, political and social change or uncertainty.” It states that its core expertise lies in government and enterprise/utility reform and related areas, notably policy communications and labour reform, and that it is developing expertise in education and social development. Company number 02732176.[2]
ASI says it “has an unrivalled record of delivering results in complex and highly political environments on behalf of donors including DFID and the FCO. For example, we mobilised at short notice to set up from scratch a Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office in Iraq and have been providing public administration reform assistance ever since. In Afghanistan we are developing and supporting counter narcotics institutions at both central and provincial levels. In Palestine we established the new Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office and now run DFID’s long-term programme of public administration reform within the Palestinian Authority, as well as having run the unit supporting Palestinian negotiators on behalf of 5 bilateral donors since 1999. In Liberia we are managing a civil service reform programme for DFID and in Sierra Leone are taking executive control of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, seeking to turn it into an effective revenue-generating agency.”[3]
Relationship with Adam Smith Institute
Baroness Amos’s clarification came in answer to a question from Baroness Northover about the criteria used before giving the Adam Smith Institute £7.6 million in aid money for consultancy work. Amos replied that DFID had awarded three contracts to the Adam Smith Institute worth a total of £7.7 million in the past financial year, each following open international competition.[1]
Syria: AJACS / Free Syria Police and moderate armed opposition
ASI implemented the Access to Justice and Community Support (AJACS) programme under the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, providing training, equipment, vehicles and salaries to the Free Syria Police in opposition-controlled areas (Idlib, Aleppo, Eastern Ghouta and others). Declassified UK, drawing on CSSF documents, reports that the UK provided at least £8 million over four years; funding ended in September 2018.
In December 2017 BBC Panorama broadcast “Jihadis You Pay For,” alleging that a portion of funds reached groups including Nour al-Din al-Zinki and that there were links between Free Syria Police stations and courts associated with Jabhat al-Nusra. The programme and reporting in The Times cited internal ASI documents warning that a percentage of police salaries was being handed over to armed groups. ASI described the allegations as “entirely inaccurate and misleading.” The FCO suspended ASI’s Syria projects. Subsequent internal and third-party reviews, summarised in a ministerial letter of January 2018, concluded that the allegations were either untrue, misleading or had been dealt with appropriately at the time, and that there was no evidence HMG or ASI had acted inappropriately. The project resumed in early 2018. Parliamentary answers confirmed DFID funding of two ASI Syria programmes (Taallum and the Assistance Coordination Unit) totalling £1,167,613 in 2017/18.[4][5][6]
A leaked 2016 CSSF invitation-to-tender response from Adam Smith International (ITT 1145, “CSSF: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition,” Syria/Jordan) shows the company bidding, in consortium with Pilgrims Group, KBR UK, OAKAS Ltd and GlenGulf International Ltd, for work training and equipping moderate armed opposition elements in southern Syria. The bid emphasises prior experience on the Tamkeen (Empowering Local Initiatives) project and contribution to indicators on community–armed-group relations. This sits within the broader CSSF effort, reported by The Guardian in 2016, to provide strategic communications and media operations support to the moderate armed opposition.[7][8]
Other major programmes
- Somalia Stability Fund III: In 2023 the FCDO awarded ASI a contract (value up to £180 million over six years, extendable) as Fund Manager. - Jordan: CSSF contracts including a £2.25 million Security Governance Fund (2023–2025) and work on the 3T (Tackling Transnational Threats) Programme. - Broader portfolio: Contemporaneous reporting noted more than £500 million in British aid contracts in the five years preceding the 2017 Panorama programme. The company faced earlier criticism over fake testimonials, leading to a temporary ban on new government contracts in 2017.
Earlier projects and DFID work
Projects ASI has worked on include:
- A World Bank review of Rwanda’s essential utilities and recommendations for private-sector involvement.
- Advising the government of Rwanda on the privatisation of the Pfunda tea factory (sold to LAB International).
- In Andhra Pradesh (from 1998), establishing an Implementation Secretariat that reviewed 87 state-owned enterprises; more than fifty were privatised, disinvested, closed or restructured.
- In Ghana (from 1999), DFID-funded work on pro-poor water-supply regulation.
- In January 2004, hosting a major conference in Dhaka promoting a South Asia Free Trade Area and repeal of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement.
- In Iraq, DFID-funded work assisting the Ministries of Finance, Planning & Development Coordination, and Municipalities & Public Works in building emergency capacity and laying foundations for long-term reform.[9]
UK government contracts (House of Commons, January 2004)
| Year | Project title | Current value (£) | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | PR Unit Support for Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSRC) | 430,625 | Tanzania |
| 1999 | Privatisation Project Phase 3 and 4 Managing Consultant | 1,718,736 | Guyana |
| 1999 | Privatisation Agency Support Project Consultancy | 560,752 | Zimbabwe |
| 1999 | Technical Assistance for Public Enterprise Reform in Orissa | 3,667,571 | India |
| 1999 | Assistance to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department | 9,131,555 | West Bank and Gaza |
| 1999 | Additional Support to the Privatisation Board | 106,241 | Bangladesh |
| 1999 | UK-Ireland Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour | 11,145 | Tanzania |
| 1999 | Medium Term Programme of Capacity Building for PURC | 1,559,960 | Ghana |
| 1999 | Initial Support to the Budgetary Processes of the Government of Macedonia | 44,315 | Macedonia |
| 2000 | Rehabilitation of Cyclone Damaged Lift Irrigation Points in Orissa | 1,296,327 | India |
| 2000 | Seminar on Export Credits and Developing Countries | 102,594 | United Kingdom |
| 2000 | Lead Adviser to Parastatal Sector Reform Commission (PSCR) | 229,966 | Tanzania |
| 2000 | Russia Trade Policy Project | 1,199,986 | Russia |
| 2001 | Conference on Disinvestment | 70,000 | India |
| 2001 | Support for Public Sector Undertaking Reforms & Social Safety Net in Madhya Pradesh | 80,000 | India |
| 2001 | PSCR: Water Privatisation and Regulation Study Tour | 54,924 | Tanzania |
| 2001 | Communications Film for Department of Disinvestment | 89,500 | India |
| 2001 | Consultants for Standards, Technical Regulatory Barriers Programme | 92,870 | Global |
| 2002 | Trade Training for DFID Staff | 20,075 | United Kingdom |
| 2002 | Pilot Training and Capacity Building in International Watercourse Law | 151,008 | Kyrgyz Republic |
| 2002 | Trade Training for DFID Staff-Bangkok | 32,328 | United Kingdom |
| 2002 | Support for Capacity-building in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank | 3,277,815 | Afghanistan |
| 2003 | Support Services for Public Enterprise Restructuring in South Africa | 6,363,435 | South Africa |
| 2003 | Support to Water Sector Regulation by PURC-Ghana | 1,079,100 | Ghana |
| 2003 | Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Programme-Public Enterprise Reforms, Phase II | 416,435 | India |
| 2003 | Economic Support within 1st Military Division HQ Basra | 55,510 | Iraq |
| 2003 | Economic Development within 1st Military Division HQ Basra | 119,848 | Iraq |
| 2003 | Support to the Office of the Prime Minister and to the Cabinet Office | 100,400 | West Bank and Gaza |
| 2003 | ITD-DFID Staff Training | 288,685 | Global |
| 2003 | Asia Trade Consultancy | 44,200 | United Kingdom |
| 2003 | International Lawyer within 1st Military Division HQ Basra | 131,868 | Iraq |
| 2003 | Economic Support to Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS) | 111,255 | Iraq |
| 2003 | Secondment of Negotiations Support Staff to the Office of Prime Minister | 75,800 | West Bank and Gaza |
| 2003 | Legal Adviser within Coalition Provisional Authority South (CPAS) | 72,925 | Iraq |
Source: House of Commons, International Development: Adam Smith Institute, 26 January 2004.[10]
The Palestinian Negotiating Unit
Most official and semi-official Palestinian organisations depend on foreign funding. The key Negotiations Support Unit (NSU), set up in 1999 to give legal, communications and policy advice to the Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department, was funded indirectly by the British government via ASI from its inception. The unit was disbanded by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in February 2011 after three employees leaked around 1,600 secret documents to Al Jazeera.[11]
A 2008 Stabilisation Unit brochure states: “ASI has been providing support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) for over a decade. Since 1999 we have assisted the PLO in preparing negotiation positions across a range of issues, from allocation and management of natural resources to complex refugees and borders issues. This project has provided Palestinian negotiators with access to high quality professional support which has transformed the nature of the negotiating process with Israel. ASI is also implementing DFID’s public administration reform programme…”[3]
Khaled Amayreh has written critically of the NSU’s performance and of ASI’s role, noting that the unit received tens of millions of dollars while, in his view, doing little to strengthen Palestinian negotiators, and that ASI is a for-profit organisation receiving a cut of donor funds earmarked for the Palestinians. An anonymous former associate of the NSU has similarly described the structural problem of a for-profit intermediary whose interests are aligned with continued donor funding rather than with independent Palestinian positions.[12]
Controversies / issues
Water privatisation (Tanzania and Sierra Leone)
A failed water-privatisation deal in Tanzania attracted criticism. ASI was accused of having spent DFID money on a £250,000 video clip promoting privatisation. The Guardian reported that DFID handed £273,000 to ASI for glossy public-relations materials, including a pop song, to persuade a sceptical public of the benefits of the sell-off. The contractor (Biwater) was later asked to leave by the Tanzanian government.[13]
In Sierra Leone, UK ministers were accused of spending aid money on a public-relations campaign to promote water privatisation. The World Development Movement criticised DFID for paying international consultants both to advise on privatisation and to run a propaganda campaign to counter public resistance. ASI was among the firms under consideration.[14]
Fake testimonials and temporary ban
In 2017 ASI was exposed for orchestrating fake testimonials in an effort to mislead MPs and was temporarily banned from new government contracts.
Personnel
Staff
- Roger Usher – Managing Director
- Phil Madden – Finance Director
- William Morrison – Director
- David Storer – Director
- Peter Young – International Director
- Amitabh Shrivastava – Director of Economic Reform Practice, former International Director
- Andrew Ros – Finance Director
Board
Funding
Adam Smith International is funded by its clients and international aid agencies, principally the UK government’s Department for International Development / FCDO and the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund.
Clients
Rwanda, Andhra Pradesh, Ghana, Bangladesh, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and others.
Affiliations
Adam Smith International is “a commercial enterprise affiliated to the right-wing free-market think tank, the Adam Smith Institute.”[15]
Contact details
Adam Smith International Westminster Tower 3 Albert Embankment London SE1 7SP Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7735 6660 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7793 0090 Email: Mailbox AT AdamSmithInternational.com Web: http://www.adamsmithinternational.com/
See also
- Adam Smith Institute
- Conflict, Stability and Security Fund
- White Helmets
- Incostrat
- ARK Group
- Mayday Rescue
- Free Syria Police
- Palestinian Negotiations Affairs Department
External links
- Declassified UK, July 2021
- Guardian, May 2016
- BBC Panorama, “Jihadis You Pay For,” December 2017
- UK Parliament, HL4023 (December 2017) and ministerial letter on Panorama allegations (January 2018)
- Leaked CSSF bid: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition (ITT 1145, 2016)
- House of Commons, International Development: Adam Smith Institute, 26 January 2004
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Baroness Amos, Adam Smith Institute: DfID Contracts, Lords Debates, 13 January 2004.
- ↑ Adam Smith International, “Who we are,” adamsmithinternational.com (archived).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stabilisation Unit brochure, Adam Smith International input, 2008.
- ↑ Declassified UK, Revealed: The UK has spent £350-million promoting regime change in Syria, 20 July 2021.
- ↑ UK Parliament, Written question HL4023, answered 20 December 2017.
- ↑ BBC Panorama, “Jihadis You Pay For,” December 2017.
- ↑ Adam Smith International, CSSF: Support to Moderate Armed Opposition (ITT 1145), June 2016 (leaked document).
- ↑ Ian Cobain et al., How Britain funds the ‘propaganda war’ against Isis in Syria The Guardian, 3 May 2016.
- ↑ Adam Smith International website case studies, web archive June 2006.
- ↑ International Development: Adam Smith Institute, UK Parliamentary Transcript, 26 January 2004.
- ↑ Mohammed Assadi and Crispian Balmer, Palestinian peace negotiation unit disbanded, Reuters Alertnet, 14 February 2011.
- ↑ Khaled Amayreh, “Empty heads and full pockets,” Al Ahram Weekly, Issue 874, 6 December 2007.
- ↑ John Vidal, Flagship water privatisation fails in Tanzania, The Guardian, 25 May 2005.
- ↑ BBC News, ‘UK aid cash funds PR campaign’, 30 August 2005.
- ↑ The Independent, 16 May 2005.