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The Ministry of Justice handles a wide variety of departments and services, including the courts, criminal justice and prisons. The ministry also provides civil legal services for the government, and support for victims of crime. Several boards and committee fall under the ministry, such as the Film Classification Board and the Victims Compensation Appeal Committee. In 2013-2014, the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety was folded into Justice.

Many individuals on the payee list provided services that would not be considered consultancy, in the sense of providing management advice. These include chaplains, justices of the peace, psychiatric assessors, mediators, legal services and First Nations cultural advisors. Their expenses are not included in the tally.

However, the ministry also avails itself of general management and technology consultation. In 2013-2014, this amounted to $1.6 million. This is not a high amount compared to other ministries, but it was a significant jump from the previous year, when only two consulting firms were hired, costing $189,998. The 2008-2009 comparative year showed an equally low level of consultancy, while 2005-2006 was again a higher-spending year, mainly due to work carried out by CGI Information Systems and Management Consulting.

Top-earning Justice consultants in 2013-2014 were:

• Acrodex, Inc. (IT management solutions, $580,289)
• NET-L3.com (Norman E. Taylor executive advisory services, $429,194)
• Data Group of Companies (Business communications management, $83,079)

Justice downloadable data spreadsheet (Excel file)

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Economy is a new ministry, formed in 2012 and making its first full appearance in public accounts in 2013-2014. In addition to absorbing the Ministry of Energy and Resources, it includes immigration, economic development, Tourism Saskatchewan and labour market development. Although new, it's already made a significant impact on consultant spending, even after shedding the high-cost Information Technology Office to Central Services.

For 2013-2014, we identified 12 firms conducting approximately $4 million in services, making it one of the government's biggest spenders on outside consultants. Only three other ministries spent more, the ministries of health, highways and central services.

This was significantly more than previous spending we tracked through the ministries and departments it absorbed, which according to our findings amounted to $1.7 million, including approximately $1 million spent in the former energy and resources ministry (see spreadsheets below). 

In 2013-2014, more than $1.5 million was spent on Fujitsu Consulting, headquartered in Tokyo. The reason for this dramatic jump likely lies in the fact that Fujitsu recently finished building a new state-of-the-art data centre in Regina, presumably allowing the government to keep down some costs and assist the growing provincial economy. However, the amount of money paid to Fujitsu across ministries is more than almost every other consulting company hired by the Saskatchewan government, eclipsed only by Seattle-based Lean advisors John Black and Associates.  

From Tokyo to Saskatoon to Washington

Fujitsu Consulting took up the greatest share of the budget, at $1.5 million. The reason for such a dramatic jump likely lies in the new state-of-the-art data centre the company has finished building in Regina, presumably allowing the government to keep down some costs and assist the growing provincial economy.

Also over the $1 million mark was the Information Service Corporation, which belonged to the Government of Saskatchewan until it was privatized in 2013. It is now a publicly traded company owned by shareholders.

Another company is Saskatoon-based Insightrix Research, which received a $215,000 payment for their services. Insightrix, with head offices in both Saskatoon and Horsham, Australia, recently gained internet fame for a viral video made by the company, which depicts actors using common Saskatchewan slang, complete with subtitles for unknowing viewers.

Aside from the video, Insightrix has worked closely with the Ministry of Economy and its predecessors, getting a 2012/13 contract worth $237,000 from the Ministry of Advanced Education. The part of the Ministry of Advanced Education that hired Insightrix was absorbed into Economy in 2012.

Standing among the private companies is one non-profit, FPInnovations. The group describes itself as a forestry research organization that has worked in Saskatchewan's lumber industry. Headquartered in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, FPInnovations is described on the company's website as a “private, non-profit forest research centre” that that works to help "Aboriginal peoples and communities in Saskatchewan improve entrepreneurial efforts necessary to marketplace success.”

Finally of note, the economy ministry also made a contribution to the services of Nelson Mullins Riley and Scarborough, contracted to lobby Washington politicians on behalf of Saskatchewan.

Economy downloadable data spreadsheet

Energy and Resources (merged with Economy) spreadsheet

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Written by Carlos Prieto, Paige Kreutzwieser, Kendall Latimer, Britton Gray, Ashley Robinson

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Central Service is a relatively new ministry, created in 2013-2014. It offers service support to some 12,000 government employees, as well as procurement services for information technology and major government projects.

To provide the most accurate historical comparison, we included former ministries and divisions that were folded into Central Services over the years. This includes Government Services, the Information Technology Office, Property Management and the Public Service Commission.

Central Services was singled out by the Provincial Auditor for its rapidly expanding roster of consultants. She found spending of $22 million on 83 consultants, compared to $8 million spent in 2008-2009, a 175 per cent spending increase.

Our research identified $82 million spent on 176 consultants in 2013-2014, compared to $13.6 million spent on 39 consultants in 2005-2006 among the major agencies and ministries that would later comprise Central Services.

Beyond the codes

Our findings were significantly higher in all years for two reasons.

First, the auditor included the former Government Services ministry and Information Technology Office in her data. On the advice of retired senior civil servants, our historical comparison additionally included Property Management and the Public Service Commission, which were also folded into Central Services.

Second, our search was broader. The auditor used the government’s internal MIDAS system’s financial code for specialized technical, technical and management consulting, and the code for system consulting.

Without access to a code search, we instead did a comprehensive review of all the companies listed, searching corporate registry records, company websites, bid documents and other sources to find out how companies identified their services.

As a result, we found many may not have fit into the auditor’s code search but called themselves consultants, in areas such as employee recruitment, market research, organizational planning, communications strategies, and other planning and project management functions.

Obscure descriptions

From this list, we were highly selective which were included in the data. We found a great many described themselves as “consultants” who provide “solutions” to government – whether they were plumbing a building or leasing office equipment.

"A majority of the consultant websites had obscure descriptions which made it challenging to determine who did what, let alone whether or not the were really a consultant," noted researcher Kendall Latimer.

"(Provincial Auditor Judy) Ferguson was correct when she noted there was no real tracking of what the consultants are acutally doing for the Government of Saskatchewan."

Therefore, some subjective decision-making had to be employed to determine which individuals and companies were primarily involved in providing advice and/or helping design projects and systems, as opposed to primarily providing a specific good or service to a project. "There were times when I had to delete private companies off of the spreadsheet because they they appeared to be consultants, further deeper research revealed they were not," said Latimer.

Building the list

For example, we included IT firms that advised on systems design and management. Chief among these, IBM was included because it identifies itself as a consultant, public tenders referred to IBM's work as consultancy, and it fits within the definition of technical/systems advice used by the provincial auditor. Oracle was also included because it does similar work to IBM. This did not include capital assets, which are found elsewhere in Public Accounts.

Because of the major impact these companies had on the bottom line - over $30 million in 2013-2014 - we have also listed them separately on the spreadsheet.

There were many engineering firms listed. They were included only if they primarily identified their work as consulting, as opposed to performing specific engineering services.

Architects and designers were excluded with the exception of Kreate Architecture and Design. Kreate was included because the firm received $284,188 to conduct design consultations for Lean implementation in 2013-2014. The company received $325,531 the previous year as well, however it fell under capital asset aquisition, so was not included as a consulting cost.

Property management firms that appeared to be mainly leasing property were excluded. However, some property-related firms more broadly described their work as advising government on procurement and management of property; such firms were included.

Communications firms were not included. However, we noted that many provide services that cross the line into consulting, such as strategic communications planning and market research. (see 'The Communicators')

Findings

Even after selective culling, the list of companies was long. Consultancy in Central Services vastly outpaced growth in all other ministries. The nearest competitors in 2013-14 were Health, at $17.2 million and Highways, at $7.4 million. Aside from the $30 million IBM contract, the next-largest suppliers we identified in 2013-2014 included:

• Fujitsu Consulting (IT consultants, $4,417,415)
• Solvera Solutions (IT and business management consultants, $4,304,061)
• Paradigm Consulting Group (Portfolio, program and project management, $4,404,194)
• CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Inc. (Business/IT consulting, $3,238,810)
• Business Systems Consulting Inc. (IT consulting, $2,468,033)

For a full listing of all companies contracted under Central Services – including those we excluded – readers should consult the Public Accounts Volume II reports. Our selected list is provided in a downloadable spreadsheet, below. Given the complexity of the research task, we invite readers to alert us to any errors or omissions.

2013-2014 Consultants

Central Services dowloadable data spreadsheet (Excel file)

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This is a new ministry, and spending on consultants is relatively low. Previously, labour had a home with advanced education and training. In 2013-2014 just one firm was hired.

• Ascent Management ($79,040) is a management consulting firm that specializes in "bringing ideas to life."

Labour Relations downloadable spreadsheet (Excel file)