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Rethinking the commissioning of consultants for enhancing government policy capacity

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Abstract

The increasing international use of consulting firms in public administration has attracted warnings against diminishing policy capability, accountability and transparency. Whilst significant debates and multiple tensions exist, this article introduces an innovative Australian model which provides scope to harness and balance the strengths of the contributions of consultants and consultancy firms to improve government policy capacity. We argue that advantages exist for engaging Tier 1 consultants provided the conditions are right. Moving past binary debates about whether or not consultants should be used in the public sector, we call for a more nuanced understanding and discussion about how to better leverage expertise, comparative analysis and contestability. Using Wu et al.’s (Policy Soc 34(3–4):165–171, 2015) framework, our pragmatic and sophisticated approach shifts theory and practice on the use of consultants to ensure clarity in the rationale of seeking external advice in order to build or improve policy capacity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors were engaged by QTC to independently evaluate the model and conduct specific funded work on behalf of QTC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australia & New Zealand School of Government, UNSW Canberra, Canberra, Australia

    Catherine Althaus & Lisa Carson

  2. Australia & New Zealand School of Government, ANZSOG, Parkville, Australia

    Ken Smith

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  1. Catherine Althaus
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Correspondence to Lisa Carson.

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Appendix

Appendix

Semi-structured interview questions

1. Has QTC’s engagement model been effective? (consider process, systems, outcomes, etc.)

2. What are the perceived or real outputs/outcomes from QTC’s involvement in the project?

3. Were QTC’s partnering consultants considered of value? Would you use them again?

4. What were the benefits of the consultants’ participation? Has there been knowledge transfer or skills uplift from QTC and/or the consultants into the agency? What would you recommend to improve uptake or uplift?

5. Are the outputs/outcomes likely to be implementable? (do you have info and capacity you need to manage implementation)? What, if anything, is missing and does QTC or management consultants have a role to play in this? How would you measure success?

6. What would you consider to be potential (or real) risks and unintended benefits associated with implementation that might impact on the effectiveness of the new QTC model?

7. What were the main benefits of QTC’s participation? Any costs or concerns?

8. What worked well, what didn’t? What, if anything, would you change? What comments would you have about scaling or tailoring the model to other areas (within your agency, portfolio or across government, etc.)?

9. Would you work with QTC again—why/why not?

10. Any other general feedback?

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Althaus, C., Carson, L. & Smith, K. Rethinking the commissioning of consultants for enhancing government policy capacity. Policy Sci 54, 867–889 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-021-09441-3

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