The following sources were consulted:
- Saskatchewan Public Accounts (primary source)
- ISC Corporate Registry
- SaskTenders
- Merx
- Corporate websites, LinkedIn and other online sources
- Saskatchewan Gazette
- Ministry and company spokespeople
- Government committee meeting minutes
Of note, the SaskTender registry contained only a fraction of consultancies listed as being paid for in the annual Public Accounts.
Not all contracts are tendered, or at least were not tendered in the years examined. For example, just 21 tenders were listed for the health ministry in 2013-2014, all related to medical supplies. No lean consultants or other IT and management consultants were listed, although the ministry makes heavy use of such services. The Public Accounts showed 26 such consultants were hired that year, including a $10 million contract for John Black and Associates that does not appear in SaskTenders.
Conversely, an award of $66,455 to Probe Research of Winnipeg to conduct labour market analysis for Enterprise Saskatchewan in 2012 appeared in SaskTenders but did not appear in Public Accounts.
