In "Management Consulting Engagements in Government", the fourth report in the 2000/01 period from the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, the auditors noted that the BC government ministries have spent about $46 million over the preceding three years on advisory services (about $15 million per year), and sought answers to the following questions:

1. Were the management consulting contracts awarded in a fair and open manner?
2. Did the results of the engagements meet the need originally identified?
3. Were the results of the management consulting engagements used?
4. Could management demonstrate that the benefits of the management consulting engagements outweighed the costs?

The Office of the Auditor General noted that it was not possible to take a statistical sample of such contracts across government due to "the nature of the information maintained by the ministries", especially where "ministry contract management systems do not differentiate between management consulting contracts and other professional service contracts"... Due to this lack of transparency, the Office instead concentrated its efforts on 37 contracts awarded by the five ministries with the largest expenditures in management advisory services, which are:

• Ministry for Children and Families
• Ministry of Health
• Ministry of Forests
• Ministry of Advanced Education, Training and Technology
• Ministry of Employment and Investment

The Office obtained a list of all management consulting engagements of $25,000 or greater that were completed over the three fiscal years prior to the 2000/01 report, and selected a sample of 37 separate engagements, of which 25 were randomly selected (5 from each ministry), and the remaining 12 were specifically chosen to provide data covering the questions being posed.

As noted earlier, a true statistical sample was not possible across all ministries, as each ministry used different methods to keep track of contracts. Thus the Office stated that while the results could not be generalized statistically, they did not select the contracts "in a manner that would have led to the sample being unrepresentative of the practices used in managing such contracts in government."

The report concluded that:

1. Value for money was obtained about 74% of the time (not received 26%, usually due to "inadequate planning, inappropriate contractor selection poor contract management or a combination of these factors")
2. The ministries reviewed, except the Ministry of Forests, awarded their management consulting contracts "directly and not in an open and fair manner," which is "contrary to government's principle of fair and open competition," and makes it almost impossible to assure that engagements are awarded in a manner that provides optimal value. This was because direct awards were easier to initiate, and managers have used discretion over how to award contracts, and they "have generally opted for efficiency rather than fairness and openness."
3. Only 24% of management consulting contracts were competitively awarded.
4. Management consulting contracts that were competitively awarded were handled through a select bidding process rather than an open bidding process. 47% of competitively awarded management consulting contracts were awarded through a bidders list, 20% were awarded using an open bidding process, and the remaining 33% could not be determined "because of a lack of available documentation."
5. The 33% of competitively awarded management consulting contracts in the sample that were missing key documentation such as Request for Proposal (RFP), consultants proposals, and proposal evaluation information.
6. Only 7 out of 22 direct award contracts (32%) met government policy for direct awarding. Reasons cited for direct awarding had "more to do with expediency and minimizing risk than with following government policy".
7. 59% of direct award contracts were awarded to "minimize risk"
8. 9% of direct award contracts were awarded because "contract managers reported that the competitive process is too time consuming. For example, it takes about two months to complete an average Request for Proposal process. In contrast, a direct award contract can be awarded in as little as a day."
9. Only 23 of the 37 management consulting contracts were conclusive about whether or not value for money had been received. Of these, the ministries showed that about 74% of the time the benefits received were greater than the cost of the consulting project.

The initial audit produced recommendations for the following ministries:

1. Ministry of Financial Management Services
2. Ministry of Advanced Education
3. Ministry of Children and Family Development
4. Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise
5. Ministry of Forests
6. Ministry of Health

In July 2002, the Auditor General of British Columbia issued a follow-up, where it found that the following ministries had fully or substantially met recommendations and did not require further follow-up:

1. Ministry of Forests
2. Ministry of Health

In July 2003, the Auditor General of British Columbia issued a follow-up, where it found that the following ministries had fully or substantially met recommendations and did not require further follow-up:

1. Ministry of Competition, Science and Enterprise

In February 2005, the Auditor General of British Columbia is expected to issue a third follow-up where it will review the following ministries:

1. Ministry of Finance
2. Ministry of Advanced Education
3. Ministry of Children and Family Development