External consultants don’t absolve the Agency
You outsourced the process. You did not outsource the evidence.
The MPC’s published guidance on the new promotion review model is explicit: where a recruitment process is done by an external consultant, the MPC reviewer must be provided with all information and documents created during the recruitment and selection process, including information collected and held by the third party.
Agencies that engage external recruiters sometimes treat the consultant’s records as the consultant’s problem. They are not. The Agency Head remains accountable for the merit-based decision. If the consultant’s records are incomplete, patchy, or inaccessible when the MPC asks, the Agency carries the defect.
Contract for record delivery up front. Specify formats, timing, and what must be captured. Verify the records before the process closes.