Ottawa IS spending billions on the acquisition of goods and professional services, but is it avoidable? by Dan Moorcroft

I read with interest James Bagnall’s article on professional services in the federal government recently. As you might expect, given my role at QMR, I have an opinion on this topic. I think to begin with, a reasonable analysis should remove the political factor from the equation. The government of the day can set the tone and look to reduce the overall size of the public service, but given their short mandate (especially if they are a minority government) they don't control a major variable in the equation: demographics.

A perceived reliance on consultants relates directly to a lack of 'expertise' to manage the myriad tasks requiring strong experience and a high level of specific knowledge to address.  The people I am thinking about have 25+ years of experience; they understand their role and how government really works. Their “informal” training concerns things that just aren’t taught in school and need to be gained through experience. Keep in mind, the public service is getting younger, and there's no cohort between the generations through which to transfer knowledge.

Even if there were positions into which you could hire fulltime public servants to address these requirements: Who do you think they can hire and at what salary for the type of experience they require? The retirement of baby boomers means not only the removal of 'bodies' from the public service but the departure of highly-tenured contextual experience -- critical to the efficient functioning of our public service.

The fact is the billions the government spends on goods and professional services needs to be spent, one way or another. On the services side, that cost would be much higher if the public service were to create positions and try and staff these capabilities themselves. What would the added cost of benefits, entitlements, overhead costs, and so on tally up to? What federal government, with any desire to be re-elected anyway, is going to run on a platform that EXPANDS the number of full time equivalents (FTEs)?  Professional staffing firms provide an essential service to the public sector and most -- and there will always be exceptions -- consultants provide good value for services rendered to the Canadian taxpayer.

Dan Moorcroft, QMR CEO