Case 06CASE FILE · GOVERNMENT1 article · 6 exhibits on file
The Consultancy Rort
STATUS · Ongoing · unresolvedA$968.6mTotal federal consultancy contracts in 2024-25, up about 48 per cent on the prior year's A$653m and above the final…
- Opened on fileThe crackdown that cost more
A public crackdown cut the Big Four's share, yet the total federal consultancy bill still climbed to a near-billion-dollar high. The money still leaves the public purse; only the name on the invoice changes.
Fig. 01 /The record6 exhibits
A$968.6mTotal federal consultancy contracts in 2024-25, up about 48 per cent on the prior year's A$653m and above the final Morrison year of A$787.6m.Greens analysis of AusTender data, August 2025about A$800mThe fall in Big Four combined federal consulting spend since 2022, their share down from 11.0 per cent to 8.1 per cent.Canberra Times analysis of AusTender, October 2025about A$1.7bnFederal revenue captured by mid-tier consultancies, more than quadrupled as the Big Four share fell.Canberra Times analysis of AusTender, October 2025about 11xNous Group federal consulting, from A$2.7m in 2019 to about A$31m in 2024-25. McGrathNicol rose about sixfold, from A$1.9m to A$11.3m.Canberra Times analysis of AusTender, October 202552 firmsMid-tier and specialist firms that each won over A$10m in federal consulting work in the first half of 2025-26 (July to December 2025).Psithur / Awarded Tenders analysis of AusTender, FY2638% / about A$29bnAverage pre-contract cost inflation across a taskforce sample of about a dozen major Defence projects, about A$29bn of estimate inflation before any…Canberra Times / AAP, July 2026
Fig. 01Source: case record · each fact carries the article that documented itAs of 2026‑07Auto-assembled
Fig. 02 / What happened
Fig. 02Source: case chain · every article in this case, in sequenceAs of 2026‑07Auto-assembled
Fig. 03 / Who the record names
Fig. 03Source: entity scan · names appearing across this caseAs of 2026‑07Auto-assembled
How we know
The exhibits sit beside the title above, each tied to the article that documented it. How evidence and sources are graded: evidence grade, source tiers.
Evidence strength · 5 sources across 1 article
What else is connected
Named in this case and in others. A count of where the record names them, not a finding about what they did.