So far I think you're right about this consultant. 5 identical functions is bad, not using DBI is very odd. This line:
is also odd. Perhaps that's for 'readability'? But
is not very readable; even if someone insists on using the shell, surely an experienced Perl programmer would've written it more like
(I only use Perl on Unix, so perhaps this line won't work as such; but my point stands). Watch out for this guy, IMO.