Defence handed PricewaterhouseCoopers a HR consulting contract worth $54.2 million — $22 million above the original estimate. Awarded through limited tender. No competitive process. Workforce planning and org design work that Defence's own HR division exists to do, outsourced to a Big Four firm with no rebid.
$22.2M of Australian taxpayer money was wasted at Department of Defence. Defence handed PricewaterhouseCoopers a HR consulting contract worth $54.2 million — $22 million above the original estimate. Awarded through limited tender. No competitive process. Workforce planning and org design work that Defence's own HR division exists to do, outsourced to a Big Four firm with no rebid.
Spread across Australia's 10.8 million households, that's roughly $2 per family — enough in total for covering the university fees of 740 students.
The Department of Defence engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers for strategic and operational HR consulting services via limited tender. The contract value grew 69% from the original $32 million estimate to $54.2 million. For an organisation with its own HR division and the Australian Public Service Commission available for workforce planning guidance, the engagement of a Big Four firm at this scale raises value-for-money questions — particularly given the limited tender procurement method that precluded competitive price discovery.
End the pattern of Defence outsourcing HR functions to Big Four firms at 3× the cost of in-house capability.
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