“And vendor-driven does not always equate to user-centric. Big tech can hold government departments hostage to long contracts that build complexity into customer service.”
He said investment in in-house digital competency gave an excellent return. “Government should not restrict itself to procurement and project management because consultants would prefer we stay in our lane,” he said.
The Albanese government is trying to shave $3 billion off spending on consultants, advertising, lawyers and labour hire over the next four years.
The Coalition’s extensive use of a “shadow” workforce of 53,900 full-time equivalent staff costing $21 billion was exposed by a Finance Department audit earlier this year, while the PwC tax scandal has put a spotlight on the hollowing out of the public service and its reliance on outside advice.
Tax Office deputy commissioner for smarter data Marek Rucinski said he had transferred from consulting giant Accenture to bolster capability at the ATO but ultimately, there would always be a need for outside help.
“From my experience, we employ consulting organisations when we feel we need to bring in people, when there are no skills we have,” Mr Rucinski told the Summit, citing robotic automation as an example.
“We leverage the skills from the consulting companies to allow us to kickstart the capability … it’s an accelerating function, it’s a capability building function, and sometimes it’s a capacity augmentation function.”
‘Unhealthy’ relationship
Chris McLaren, the Queensland government’s chief customer and digital officer, said although consultants had their place, “the relationship had probably gotten a bit unhealthy” in recent years.
“There is too much dependency, deference and lionising consultants,” said Mr Mclean, who spent 10 years at each of KPMG and Capgemini.
“Probably much to the surprise of my staff, I’ve really limited the extent we use consultants … because I was amazed at the talent; but they seemed to have this belief the consultants could do something better than they could.
“And I think me having been there I was able to say, ‘actually you are just as good as them, you can do it. I want you to do it, we don’t need them.’”
And Mr McLaren said when he did hire help, the power dynamic was clear: “They’re working for you. They’re there to make you look good. They’re an extension of your team,” he said he tells his staff.
“I don’t want to see your letterhead. I don’t ever see the big-four branding and templates. You’re part of my team now, and you work for my leaders and when we present to stakeholders, I want my leaders presenting this as their work.”
