The NSW government has launched an in-house Expert Advisory Network (EAN) aimed at reducing public sector reliance on outside consultants and making better use of existing expertise.
Set up within the Premier’s department, the network consists of an initial list of 30 existing teams across the public service with specific expertise.
The teams will deliver specialist advice and support to government projects, initially in areas like policy and strategy, stakeholder engagement, financial and commercial services, and technology, among others.
Already listed within the Expert Advisory Network are Investment NSW’s economic and analytics capabilities team, and Multicultural NSW’s interpretation and translation services.
The Minn Labor government has said the EAN was part of its ongoing program to reduce expenses by cutting back on consultants. The government said in 2023-24 it had delivered $450 million in savings on consultant and contingent labour.
A 2024 Cabinet Office report found that utilising existing expertise within the public service could save more than 50 per cent on each contract.
The state’s Domestic Manufacturing and Government Procurement minister Courtney Houssos said establishing an EAN was a “common-sense reform” to work smarter in the public service.
“Consultants should be offering specific, expert advice to government, not replicating work that can be done with existing resources inside government agencies,” Ms Houssos said.
“With the Expert Advisory Network, we will save the public money and boost capacity.”
Under the previous government, Ms Houssos said, the Auditor-General had identified that more than $1 billion was spent on external consultants without adequate procurement and management policies in place.
Further analysis found that more than 15 per cent of contracts were for ‘generalist work’ on policy design, program evaluation and report writing.
“[The opposition] will remember that they splashed around more than a billion dollars on consultants, and that the Auditor‑General said that money was spent without proper procurement and management processes in place,” Ms Houssos told the NSW Parliament last week.
“We have been clear about our expectations,” she said. “We are bringing core work in-house. We are not going to outsource to unnecessary consultants.
“We have been clear that we need to spend our money smarter and spend more money on essential services.
“In our first year in government, we delivered a reduction in spending on contingent labour and consultants of more than $450 million,” Ms Houssos told the Parliament.
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