A Star investigation found that 90 per cent of the $2.4 billion paid out for management consulting in the past decade comes with no description of the work done on the government’s public disclosure sites.
This is done despite government guidelines recommending departments “provide a brief description of each contract so that the public may benefit from additional context.”
The Star went further and asked more than a dozen departments for details of the consulting work provided on specific contracts.
Even then, several departments and agencies refused to say what services they bought as part of the roughly $700 million in taxpayer money they spent on management consulting.
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), in charge of delivering social programs and services, has billed more than $420 million since 2004.
One of the department’s most recognizable divisions, Service Canada, has spent another $129 million for management consulting — more than 70 per cent of which was given to a single recruitment company, according to the government’s contract records.

What consulting work was done for all that money?

A spokeswoman with HRSDC refused to say.

The company, Quantum Management Services, was just as tight-lipped.

“I’m not going to answer your questions,” said Anne Cote, a vice-president in the company’s Ottawa office.

http://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2013/05/08/star_investigation_millions_in_taxpayerfunded_consulting_work_kept_secret.html