Canadian federal departments spent almost $240 million on Massive 4 consulting contracts in 2024 regardless of authorities pledges to scale back exterior consulting, public contracting knowledge confirmed on Wednesday.
Deloitte secured the biggest share at $136.4 million, adopted by KPMG at $75.9 million, Ernst & Younger at $21 million, and PricewaterhouseCoopers at $6.1 million.
‘Big 4’ consultants — Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, and Ernst & Younger — raked in $240-million from 200 federal contracts in 2024. PBO says appears ‘a bit high’ given feds’ dedication to curb reliance on exterior contractors. https://t.co/oddLYbBGK0 @thehilltimes
— Lorrie Goldstein (@sunlorrie) January 23, 2025
The spending marks a 12% decline from 2023’s $272 million however contradicts the Liberal authorities’s 2023 price range promise to chop consulting bills by 15%.
“What’s bizarre is the repeated awarding of contracts to the same firms for the same types of expertise year after year,” Parliamentary Finances Officer Yves Giroux informed Ontario Chronicle on January 17.
Employment and Social Improvement Canada emerged as the largest spender amongst federal departments, awarding $49.4 million to Deloitte alone. The Canada Border Companies Company adopted with $37.5 million in Deloitte contracts.
The spending continues even because the federal public service workforce has expanded by 30% since 2010 to 367,772 staff, elevating questions in regards to the want for exterior experience.
Public sector union leaders warn of a rising “shadow public service” of consultants working with out customary authorities oversight. These contractors usually are not topic to merit-based hiring, price range constraints, or public service accountability measures, in keeping with Sean O’Reilly, president of the Skilled Institute of the Public Service of Canada.
Past the Massive 4, Accenture secured $261.5 million in federal contracts in 2024, regardless of current criticism from the Auditor Common over its administration of pandemic mortgage applications.
Former Privy Council clerk Michael Wernick mentioned decreasing contractor reliance would require important funding in public service coaching and new compensation instruments to draw specialists.
The federal government had aimed to save lots of $500 million by means of lowered consulting and journey spending as a part of a broader $15.4 billion cost-cutting initiative.
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