The Ministry of Health uses the highest number of consultants after Central Services. We identified 38 firms and individuals paid a combined $17.2 million in 2013-2014, up from $14.7 million the previous year. This is significantly more than the consultants we identified in 2005-2006, which numbered seven and earned $3.6 million.
Organizations such as the Kaizan Institute, John Black and Associates, Lean Advisors (Canada) Inc. and Syntegrity focussed on lean management and organizational change. There were also some consulting physicians, as well as groups involved in health care policy development and IT management.
The implementation of Lean appears to have increased spending in the ministry. Lean consultant John Black & Associates was the highest paid consultant, earning over $20 million by the end of the 2013-2014 fiscal year. It was recently announced that the government is ending the contract, suggesting that spending in this area should be expected to decline, if not in the current 2014-2015 fiscal year, then in the next.
In common with some other ministries, there was some blurring between employee-consultant lines, with some individuals appearing to simultaenoulsy be government employees and/or consultants depending on the source of information.
The top-earning contracts between 2012 and 2014 were:
- John Black and Associates (Lean management, $20,568,414)
- CGI Informations Systems and Management Consultants (IT management, $5,369,411)
- VFA Canada Corp (Capital planning, $1,735,775)
- Health Conveyance Inc (Communications, $398,197 – no website)
- Earnst & Young (Financial analysis & audits, $394,691)
- Perry Martin Consultants Inc (Strategic communications, organizational planning, $377,656)
The fourth-highest earning company, Health Conveyance, became a matter of public interest after owner Corey Tochor was elected as a Sask Party MLA in 2011. In June 2012, the province's conflict of interest commissioner, Ron Barclay, granted a temporary exemption that allowed Health Conveyance to finish up a four-year contract while Tochor arranged the company's sale. He is no longer listed as an owner.
Health downloadable data spreadsheet (Excel file)
