5 ms·

Ottawa paid nearly $670k for KPMG's advice on cutting consultant costs

64 points by lsllc 3y ago

silverbax88 3y ago
These consultants have a sweet gig going on. They just interview everyone at the company, write down what the employees say needs to be fixed, then they put it in a report to upper management as expert recommendations. Then they bill for their time and 'expertise'.
- aldonius 3y ago
  Yep. It's about solving a mild case of the Dictator's Information Problem.
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  We’re putting cover letters on all the TPS reports now…
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  It sucks that we're all this bad at communicating. The amount of harm and wasted effort/time is already maddening if there wasn't such a tragically high human cost to it.
divbzero 3y ago
The article mentions cost overruns on the ArriveCAN app, which was required for border crossings into Canada from about 2020 to 2022. The app originally aided in pandemic screening and was well-made overall being easy and fast to use. But it also felt somewhat like a solution in search of a problem: More than once I heard Canadian border crossing agents question how helpful the app actually was and its use was quietly made optional last year.
- morkalork 3y ago
  The use seems to be funnelling millions of dollars to a few well connected individuals with little prior experience who in turn, farmed the actual development to other contractors?
erikaww 3y ago
I know the joke of this is that they could have in-housed this. But why do government agencies not always have groups focused on financial efficiency? Is it corruption or stupidity?
- nebulousthree 3y ago
  It's the flip flopping of liberal investment in government and public services, followed by conservative slashing of those services, followed by a condemnation of government's ability to provide after having been slashed, followed by an open bidding war for private consultancies to take over the role of the slashed service at a supposedly lower cost (that overruns in the end anyway, just like the aforementioned government service did in the first place). Rinse and repeat as every generation of politician proposes the new thing (repackaged old thing) and can then pat themselves on the back about what a good job they did. The kickbacks must be nice too I suppose ;)
  - travoc 3y ago
    I've lived in cities and states where there was never the remote political possibility of the "conservative slashing of services" yet the problems and complaints still persist. Your theory may have some gaps.
    - sitkack 3y ago
      Gaps or a soap boxed size podium in some backwater forum board with bad css where they can beg the question about a liberal conservative epicycle?
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Because governments (and corporations) are so brutally inefficient that they cannot implement change with their own staff. Bringing in a third party with a mandate from the top can skip entrenched red tape. It does work and is possibly the only tool they have to break the status quo. But it doesn’t help the underlying problem of organizations being so knotted that they need this short term fix for every problem.
injb 3y ago
I'm not sure what their budget is but I wouldn't be surprised if this is cheap.
zeagle 3y ago
They are just laundering difficult decisions and premade conclusions through post civil service gig partners. Nothing new or exciting to see here. I'll keep my outrage for phoenix (1) with their 500mil/year budget to process transactions(3) and and whatever the hell is going on with Canada Life/PSHCP(2). 1 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-pay-system-2023-numbers-update-1.6868362 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-pay-system-202... 2 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/canada-life-federal-government-coverage-health-military-1.7021195 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/canada-life-federal-go... 3 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-budget-2023-capital-region-phoenix-convoy-1.6793852 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-budget-2023-ca...
- spangry 3y ago
  Alternatively they had underspent their budget allocation and the end of financial year was approaching. So it was either (1) dump the spare budget on consultants (sort of pre-paying for labour) or (2) 'lose' the money when the financial year ticked over.
sitkack 3y ago
Performance art!
doesnotexist 3y ago
From the headline, it sounds like the beginning of a great Armando Iannucci sketch making fun of management consultants. Which sure seems to be tangentially relevant to more and more situations during these times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQcA5CKFl2A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQcA5CKFl2A "The Norbrand's management consultancy rule is simple: Give it to your clients straight." "Ok what's our problem?" "You're spending too much on management consultants you skuzzer."
m00x 3y ago
KPMG report: "You could've saved almost 700k by not hiring KPMG consultants." Government: "Wow, brilliant!"
- kaliqt 3y ago
  I'll send over my bill for that advice.
mrjin 3y ago
Am I reading it right: cutting consultant cost by making more consultations...
Obscurity4340 3y ago
I feel like they should try their own like Lemmy or Reddit-type forum where everyone's forced to remain anonymous (even the boss) and they can discourse without fear of reprisal when they come up with exactly what we spend so much money on consultants to do. Propose an action/decision AMA style and let the demolition or drafting begin. Screw KPMG/DesLoittes/McKinsey (hate them). Go do something productive to all sides. Edit: the Public should be "the boss", anybody else screwing everything by insisting on their little hierarchy needs to be told by the real boss to f off (John Q Public)
- zeagle 3y ago
  Problem is it would cost several billion to make, operate for 500mil a year, not work, and be delivered in a decade when it's irrelevant and not the pet project of anyone still involved in making decisions. (Disclaimer: I'm pro-government run public services but this type of stuff would be consulted out.)
  - Obscurity4340 3y ago
    How do they, like, have ANYTHING then? That sounds like the paradox that you can keep dividing stuff by 2 forever and it will never be small enough to reach zero technically lol

64 points by lsllc 3y ago

These consultants have a sweet gig going on. They just interview everyone at the company, write down what the employees say needs to be fixed, then they put it in a report to upper management as expert recommendations. Then they bill for their time and 'expertise'.

aldonius 3y ago
Yep. It's about solving a mild case of the Dictator's Information Problem.
mixmastamyk 3y ago
We’re putting cover letters on all the TPS reports now…
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Obscurity4340 3y ago
It sucks that we're all this bad at communicating. The amount of harm and wasted effort/time is already maddening if there wasn't such a tragically high human cost to it.

divbzero 3y ago

The article mentions cost overruns on the ArriveCAN app, which was required for border crossings into Canada from about 2020 to 2022. The app originally aided in pandemic screening and was well-made overall being easy and fast to use. But it also felt somewhat like a solution in search of a problem: More than once I heard Canadian border crossing agents question how helpful the app actually was and its use was quietly made optional last year.

morkalork 3y ago
The use seems to be funnelling millions of dollars to a few well connected individuals with little prior experience who in turn, farmed the actual development to other contractors?

erikaww 3y ago

I know the joke of this is that they could have in-housed this. But why do government agencies not always have groups focused on financial efficiency? Is it corruption or stupidity?

nebulousthree 3y ago
It's the flip flopping of liberal investment in government and public services, followed by conservative slashing of those services, followed by a condemnation of government's ability to provide after having been slashed, followed by an open bidding war for private consultancies to take over the role of the slashed service at a supposedly lower cost (that overruns in the end anyway, just like the aforementioned government service did in the first place). Rinse and repeat as every generation of politician proposes the new thing (repackaged old thing) and can then pat themselves on the back about what a good job they did. The kickbacks must be nice too I suppose ;)
- travoc 3y ago
  I've lived in cities and states where there was never the remote political possibility of the "conservative slashing of services" yet the problems and complaints still persist. Your theory may have some gaps.
  - sitkack 3y ago
    Gaps or a soap boxed size podium in some backwater forum board with bad css where they can beg the question about a liberal conservative epicycle?
jncfhnb 3y ago
Because governments (and corporations) are so brutally inefficient that they cannot implement change with their own staff. Bringing in a third party with a mandate from the top can skip entrenched red tape. It does work and is possibly the only tool they have to break the status quo. But it doesn’t help the underlying problem of organizations being so knotted that they need this short term fix for every problem.

injb 3y ago

I'm not sure what their budget is but I wouldn't be surprised if this is cheap.

zeagle 3y ago

They are just laundering difficult decisions and premade conclusions through post civil service gig partners. Nothing new or exciting to see here. I'll keep my outrage for phoenix (1) with their 500mil/year budget to process transactions(3) and and whatever the hell is going on with Canada Life/PSHCP(2). 1 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-pay-system-2023-numbers-update-1.6868362 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/phoenix-pay-system-202... 2 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/canada-life-federal-government-coverage-health-military-1.7021195 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/canada-life-federal-go... 3 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-budget-2023-capital-region-phoenix-convoy-1.6793852 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/federal-budget-2023-ca...

spangry 3y ago
Alternatively they had underspent their budget allocation and the end of financial year was approaching. So it was either (1) dump the spare budget on consultants (sort of pre-paying for labour) or (2) 'lose' the money when the financial year ticked over.

sitkack 3y ago

Performance art!

doesnotexist 3y ago

From the headline, it sounds like the beginning of a great Armando Iannucci sketch making fun of management consultants. Which sure seems to be tangentially relevant to more and more situations during these times. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQcA5CKFl2A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQcA5CKFl2A "The Norbrand's management consultancy rule is simple: Give it to your clients straight." "Ok what's our problem?" "You're spending too much on management consultants you skuzzer."

m00x 3y ago

KPMG report: "You could've saved almost 700k by not hiring KPMG consultants." Government: "Wow, brilliant!"

kaliqt 3y ago
I'll send over my bill for that advice.

mrjin 3y ago

Am I reading it right: cutting consultant cost by making more consultations...

Obscurity4340 3y ago

I feel like they should try their own like Lemmy or Reddit-type forum where everyone's forced to remain anonymous (even the boss) and they can discourse without fear of reprisal when they come up with exactly what we spend so much money on consultants to do. Propose an action/decision AMA style and let the demolition or drafting begin. Screw KPMG/DesLoittes/McKinsey (hate them). Go do something productive to all sides. Edit: the Public should be "the boss", anybody else screwing everything by insisting on their little hierarchy needs to be told by the real boss to f off (John Q Public)

zeagle 3y ago
Problem is it would cost several billion to make, operate for 500mil a year, not work, and be delivered in a decade when it's irrelevant and not the pet project of anyone still involved in making decisions. (Disclaimer: I'm pro-government run public services but this type of stuff would be consulted out.)
- Obscurity4340 3y ago
  How do they, like, have ANYTHING then? That sounds like the paradox that you can keep dividing stuff by 2 forever and it will never be small enough to reach zero technically lol