If the federal government wants to get serious about spending controls, it needs to look critically at its ballooning outsourcing costs. This study finds that over the past five years, personnel outsourcing costs have risen 79%. While federal departments have had their budgets capped, expenditures on outside consultants have not been touched and remain above $1 billion a year.
The growing and concentrated nature of outsourcing has created a shadow public service that works alongside the real public service—but without the same hiring practices or transparency requirements. This study makes specific recommendations to help curb rising costs and make better use of the resources the government already has.
“We need the CCPA to remind us that our dreams of a decent, egalitarian society are reasonable — indeed that with a little work, they are practical. And I love that practicality, that protection of the dream of the possible.”
— Naomi Klein
