Consulting giant Deloitte acted as both a procurement advisor for the government on its visa processing technology overhaul and helped a company prepare a bid for the lucrative work, but failed to declare the clear conflict of interest.
Deloitte was fired by the government when the conflict was discovered through an external complaint and review, but not before its own uncompetitive contract to provide commercial advice had climbed 900 per cent.
The details have been unearthed in a critical audit of the so-called permissions capability project released by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on Wednesday.
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