A report from the Department of Works blames poor federal management for the hiring of costly consultants, per Blacklock’s Reporter. The report follows evidence disclosing a typical government employee now answers to seven levels of management. “While value for money and cost effectiveness is perceived by the majority of consulting service users, the Evaluation notes in some instances insufficient preparation and planning may have limited the cost effectiveness,” said the report. Cabinet to date has failed to reach promised cuts in spending on consulting now worth $21.6 billion annually. Consultants are only to be hired for specialized work that cannot be done by employees. The report found managers often never bothered to find out.“While the Evaluation found insufficient internal resources was one of the most common reasons provided for seeking a contract for services, evidence collected as part of this Evaluation presented a low level of awareness and consideration by departmental teams regarding the use of other human resource options,” said the report.Managers also justified hiring consultants as a cost savings for taxpayers though a third admitted they didn’t know, said the report.“Management frequently agrees the vendor selected represented the best value for the work completed,” it said. “The Evaluation found 64% of survey respondents agreed the selection criteria used for their contracts resulted in a vendor representing the best value for money while 36% did not know.”Spending on consultants has ballooned despite an increase in federal payroll costs to $67.4 billion a year. The Budget Office in a February 22 report counted 428,000 federal employees.“It is not uncommon for departments to have five levels of executives and associate deputy ministers or more and one deputy minister,” Budget Officer Yves Giroux testified March 18 at the Commons Government Operations Committee. “It leads to a situation where an employee can have seven levels of management above them.”“There is certainly room for ‘de-layering’ as some would call it. Yes, there is room to reduce some levels of executives in the public service.”“Over time we are seeing an increase in the number of public servants, in public expenditures, but year after year, despite the fact departments choose their performance indicators and the targets, they don’t seem to be getting significantly better. That is what worries me with the increased level of spending.”
