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Making the invisible public service visible? Exploring data on the supply of policy and management consultancies in C anada
Author(s) -
Howlett Michael,
Migone Andrea
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12065
Subject(s) - transparency (behavior) , accountability , business , oligopoly , norm (philosophy) , contract management , government (linguistics) , service (business) , industrial organization , marketing , economics , computer security , microeconomics , cournot competition , political science , linguistics , philosophy , law , computer science
The use of external policy and management consultants in government has been receiving increasing attention in many countries, including C anada. We explore new data on management consulting compiled from information released since the creation of the F ederal A ccountability A ct to address the supply side of contracting. We find several large multi‐year contracts have taken up a larger percentage of contracting activity while the number of smaller contracts has declined. The data suggest a pattern of oligopsonic demand concentrated mostly in a handful of very heavy users and an increasingly oligopolistic supply pattern where less than 5% of companies accounted for 80% of total contract values and where repeat contracts are the norm. Measures of accountability and transparency need to extend to the “invisible” public service of contract consultants.

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