Public Works and Government Services Canada is contracting out the management of the federal government's sprawling online presence, despite a cabinet commitment two years ago to cut consulting expenses, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.The department is seeking private IT contractors to oversee Canada.ca and its 660,000 web pages, though officials have not revealed how much taxpayers will spend on the contract."The public has been able to access the website, including emergency and benefit information, 100% of the time despite significant increases in public usage, surges in volume, and a significant number of cyberattacks with increasing sophistication over the years," the department wrote in a notice to contractors. "Canada's goal is to build on this success and elevate the ability of the Canada.ca platform to meet evolving citizen expectations."The main government portal launched a decade ago as a centralized hub for federal services and information. "The Government of Canada's goal is for Canada.ca to provide a secure, modern, and scalable platform to allow for digital communication and services," said the notice Renewal For A Managed Web Service Solution.The department offered no explanation for why existing government IT workers cannot handle website maintenance duties..The move appears to contradict the Liberal government's 2023 budget pledge to "reduce spending on consulting." That document, titled A Made In Canada Plan, provided no specific targets for cuts."The exercise is extremely important," then-Treasury Board President Anita Anand told reporters at the time. "Spending reviews have been part of previous governments, but what we are asking departments across the government to do is to take a look at your expenditures and determine where there is a possibility to refocus that spending."Opposition MPs noted during Thursday's Commons budget debate that preliminary consultant spending is projected to jump from $20 billion to $26 billion this fiscal year. "That is how much the government is spending on management consultants," said Conservative MP Kelly McCauley.McCauley highlighted one particularly ironic expense from 2023, when federal managers paid consulting giant KPMG $669,650 for advice on reducing consultant costs. "Did taxpayers get their money's worth?" he asked.Consultant spending has climbed even as the federal workforce expanded from 195,565 employees to 254,309 since 2016. "While management consulting only accounts for a small portion of overall spending on professional and special services, 5%, it has shown consistent growth year over year," said a 2023 Budget Office report The Government's Expenditure Plan And Main Estimates For 2023-24.
