When Compliance Experts founder Paul Molenaar started his working life in local government, traditional government services were still almost exclusively provided by in-house government employees. In the mid-1990s, governments saw potential benefits in outsourcing work to the private sector. National Competition Policy was adopted by Australian federal, state and local government agencies and a trickle of outsourcing quickly became a flood.
Very soon governments at all levels had largely moved from the provision of services to the administration of them. The next step, not widely recognised by those outside government, saw governments downsizing their regulatory arms as well, with many industries being delegated responsibility to ‘self-regulate’ and/or ‘self-monitor.’
Governments soon found that while outsourcing could reduce administrative costs and allow them to focus on policy, they were frequently losing control of the quality of services being delivered to their constituents. Government agencies did not have the compliance frameworks in place to control and manage the risks associated with third parties providing what had traditionally been government services.
Having researched best practice throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and New Zealand, Paul and his partner Cindy saw an opportunity in all of this. They established Compliance Experts to provide auditing services for government, routinely checking that private sector providers and their appointed contractors were meeting their agreements, quality standards and due diligence in relation to safety and environmental responsibilities. Over time this business became trusted and highly regarded as the ‘eyes and ears’ of government.
