The Department of Employment tripled its spending on outside consultants to more than $311 million in a single year, citing a lack of available employees — despite having over 34,000 on staff, according to an internal briefing report.
Blacklock’s Reporter says the December 9 document questioned whether the department’s heavy use of private consultants amounted to hiring “replacement workers instead of public servants.”
It stated that outside help was brought in “where it was determined that no employee was available or that specified skill sets or specialized knowledge were lacking.”
The department, which employs 34,410 people according to its 2025 Departmental Plan, did not explain what expertise couldn’t be found internally.
Instead, it defended the move, saying consultants offer “flexible and rapid deployment of resources with specialized skills and expertise to support the department’s operational requirements and internal systems.”
In 2023 alone, consultant costs surged from $93 million to $311.8 million — a 235% jump and equivalent to 6% of the department’s total annual budget.
The bulk of the spending was tied to the department’s efforts to modernize the delivery of benefits, such as Old Age Security.
The money went to just 10 well-known consulting firms, including Accenture, Deloitte, KPMG, McKinsey & Company, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Since 2015, the department has spent $835 million on those 10 companies.
A total of 830 consultants were hired during the year, many at undisclosed daily rates. Of those, 137 had been on the payroll for more than two years. The department said they were used for “specialized expertise that is not available within the department” and claimed it continually reassesses operational needs.
The ballooning use of consultants comes amid broader scrutiny of federal outsourcing. Government-wide, consultant spending now tops $25 billion annually, according to the Procurement Ombudsman. At the same time, the size of the federal workforce has also grown significantly — from 195,565 employees in 2016 to 254,309 in core administration alone.
A 2023 report from the Parliamentary Budget Office noted that while management consulting makes up just 5% of overall spending on professional services, it has shown “consistent growth year over year.”
