Credit: DCMS/Public domain

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media Sport has awarded a £900,000 contract to US-based management consultancy Bain & Company to look at what structural and staffing changes are needed to help it deliver its "significantly increased responsibilities" amid the coronavirus recovery.

The work will feed into the department's transformation programme for the next five years, according to a contract-award notice published last week.

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DCMS said Bain consultants will spend the next year helping officials to develop a cost plan for the department’s “future organisational blueprint”.

The plan will set out “the organisational structure, skills and capabilities required to meet the delivery expectations and Covid-19 recovery for the next 5 years”, according to the notice.

The 15-month contract, which runs from 29 June to 30 September next year, is worth £906,100.

Asked what the contract covered, and whether the work could be done internally, a department spokesperson said: "Bain supported DCMS on work to help ensure we can deliver on significantly increased responsibilities, including major capital projects, as efficiently as possible."