The social protest in the summer of 2011, already almost forgotten, succeeded in changing the public code of conduct among quite a few tycoons and government officials. The main change in the post-protest era is in appearances: the "updated" code is - you can continue to benefit from the fruits of your labor/inheritance/profits and from the perks of government, but the public and media had better not learn about them.
As part of this process, the company car has turned into a kind of "social fig leaf" among public servants and executives at public companies. Whereas, in the past, the company car was a status symbol that broadcast success in the "see and be seen" style, today the company car is now picked by media advisers. What happens when the media adviser's recommendation does not match the (strong) desire of the executives/officials? Some very odd things happen.
Take, for example, the ministerial car tender affair. In June 2012, after months of selection and choice, the results were released of the Government Procurement Administration's tender, in which the next generation of cars for ministers and corresponding public officials (such as judges) was chosen. A range of good high-performance executive cars from all over the world was offered. The tender, it should be noted, was conducted legally and properly, and attempts to appeal against it in court failed.
Except that the tender's results turned out to be a major challenge for ministers' media advisers. On the one hand, the tender was won by the BMW 528, the German status symbol desired by wealthy people worldwide. Its "real" price in Israel, in contrast to the bargain basement price offered the government in the tender, is NIS 400,000. On the other hand, the Citroen C5, a large, French, well-accessorized and high-performance executive car, also won, but it has a blue-collar image of a car picked by retail chain VPs as a leased car.
The behind-the-scenes drama is easy to imagine: a fierce struggle between people in authority (to pick a prestigious German car) and the recommendation of media advisers who understood the consequences of the social protest (to pick a French executive car).
In retrospect, the compromise chosen was along the lines of "decide not to decide". Even now, almost 18 months after the government tender, ministers avoid personally choosing one of the winning cars. So far, the government has ordered only two BMWs, one of which was ordered during the previous term, and three Citroens.
The excuses for the postponements are varied. At first, it was claimed that the reason for the delay was the early elections, which caused the postponement in the placing of orders for ministers' cars. After the elections, the government operated on the basis of a monthly budget until the new state budget was passed, and it was claimed that "orders for new cars have been postponed until approval of the budget in July." After that, it was claimed that "as part of the budget cuts, the government decided to replace the government car fleet every five years, instead of every four years, and the replacement will be carried out gradually beginning from January 2014."
Take the example of Hollywood stars en route to the Oscars
Today, in January 2014, the government has been replaced, the budget was passed a long time ago, and the old official cars are headed for the junkyards and spare parts dealers. So what is being done in the interim to avoid the political minefield? Creative solutions are being adopted. Except for a few ministers who decided on principle to continue using their private cars (such as Minister of Finance Yair Lapid and Minister of Health Yael German), most ministers are using prestigious rented cars. This is the perfect social-image alibi: "We're not talking about a personal official car, but a temporary solution."
The problem is that this solution means breaching the official terms of service of public sector employees, and also costs the state dearly, far more than a government-owned vehicle maintained by the Government Vehicle Administration (yes, there is such a thing). Presumably, if this solution was economically worthwhile, the Ministry of Finance Budgets Division, which is responsible for the Government Vehicle Administration, would have chosen it in the first place rather than publishing a tender.
So instead of just criticizing from the sidelines and letting off steam, let's be constructive and offer our ministers more creative solutions. You could, for example, adopt the method of Hollywood actors on their way to the Oscars ceremony: park the massive Mercedes, Hummers and Cadillacs in a concealed parking lot or a side street, and arrive at the red carpet and the photographers in a small, modest, environmentally friendly car organized in advance or simply come by taxi.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 8, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013