- Title
- Are consultants used for advice on corporate services or programme content? Evidence from the 'Take-off Years' in Canberra
- Creator
- Howard, Michael
- Relation
- Public Administration Today p. 52-66
- Relation
- http://www.act.ipaa.org.au
- Publisher
- Institute of Public Administration Australia
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2006
- Description
- In the past five years, academics in Australia have begun to pay more attention to the increased use of external consultants by public sector agencies. This paper seeks to complement this emerging body of mainly qualitative research by undertaking quantitative analysis of the 'type' of consultancies undertaken. Three Commonwealth departments were examined for the 1988-93 period, the first years of mandatory reporting on consultants and a period of 'take-off' in their use by departments. Over 3500 consultancies were coded using eleven categories, with these categories grouped under the super-category of either 'programme content' (PC) or 'corporate services' (CS). The paper shows that consultancies oriented to PC were quite conspicuous, being roughly equal in total number and cost to those oriented to CS. The distinctiveness and significance of PC consultancies is evidenced by two further patterns. First, although a majority of both PC and CS consultancies were undertaken by private businesses or partnerships, about forty per cent of PC consultancies were undertaken by entities that did not rely on consulting as their primary source of income. Among these 'non-commercial' consultants, academics were especially prominent in PC consultancies. Second, PC consultancies were much more likely to be justified by the 'need for independent review' than were CS consultancies. Overall, the article argues that the matters referred to consultants were often significant for the development of programme or major projects within them. Whether it was desirable for around fifty per cent of these programme content consultancies to be given to commercial entities, ostensibly reliant on consulting or contracting as a major source of income, is a matter for debate.
- Subject
- consultants; public sector
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/26589
- Identifier
- uon:952
- Identifier
- ISSN:1832-0066
- Language
- eng
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