- The US government spends billions on counseling contracts, making them a major target for Doge.
- Employees in Deloitte and Accenture told Bi they were anxious to reduce jobs between contract reviews.
- Although ratings would cause disruption, they also offered opportunities, said one leader of Deloitte.
The Trump White House office has been shaking the public sector in its mission to reduce costs and improve efficiency – a job usually left in advisory firms.
After federal workers rest and claim to have cut billions into expenses, Dage is now turning his attention to the consultants themselves.
The general service administration, or GSA, the main procurement wing of the US government, has told federal agencies to review and justify their contracts with 10 major consultations.
They have until Friday to secure GSA with a list which contracts they consider essential and those that can be cut.
“As part of the Trump-Vang Administration efforts to give up fraud and waste, GSA initially urged agency partners to write a brief explanation as to why counseling contracts were essential to them to meet their legal goals,” GSA spokesman for Business Insider told.
Business Insider understands the 10 firms on the list are Deloitte, Federal Services Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics, Leidos, Guidehouse, Hill Mission Technologies, Science Applications International, CGI Federal, and IBM.
The federal government spends tens of billions a year on counseling services and is the largest client for many of the firms included in the list.
Deloitte US receives $ 3.2 billion a year through its contracts with federal agencies, or about 9.6% of its latest annual income. Booz Allen Hamilton makes almost all $ 10.7 billion in government contracts.
Finding themselves in the hot DOGE seat, the federal counseling departments are relying on disruption, they told employees in Accenture and Deloitte.
They asked not to be identified as they were not allowed to speak to the media. Bi has verified their employment.
Elon Musk’s Doge has been aggressive of government waste and now has its views on consultancy. Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Images
A Federal Services Accenture consultant said: “Everyone is worried that their work will be else, and no one knows when it will end. We already have fewer projects and expect more to shorten.”
Three AFS employees told BI that in February Accenture reduced the amount of time employees allowed among projects, known in industry as “in the bench”.
During a February city municipality, they were informed that incompetent time, training or recruitment between projects would be eliminated. Previously, they were given a maximum four -week buffer area between projects before faced with completion, employees said. According to the new policy, employees who do not have an immediate project lined up will be issued.
“Simply, you are either on a project or outside,” said one of AFS Bi employees.
They said the difficult stance on internal billing would continue until the Trump administration is “on the most sustainable terrain,” said one AFS employee.
Workers within the Deloitte Deloitte Division and Public Services (GPS) told BI that the big big firm had not made any open change of policies in response to federal contracts under consideration. However, one employee described the atmosphere as “stressful” and said the projects were retreating, creating a very large bench.
“In fact there is not much work available to apply,” the GPS worker said, adding that they thought it was better to leave government counseling and return within a few years “when things are resolved.”
Accenture and Deloitte did not respond to requests for comment.
Consultation
Doge’s control over firm contracts deducts how many values consultants are bringing to federal operations.
“No more by paying consultants to do such things as to make PowerPoint slides and write minutes of dating!” Doug Collins, Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Department, said in X last month while announcing that he would cut contracts worth about $ 2 billion.
Michael Mische, a management adviser, a former partner in the KPMG, and a professor at the USC Marshall School, said consultants play a valuable role in government operations, but it was difficult to calculate the correct return of their services.
“How do you calculate the return of a strategy? Or how do you really calculate the return of organizational change?” He said.
He added that it was “an absolutely accurate criticism” that consultants work urgently, but not efficient and that the industry was “due to disruption”.
‘Good value’
Bi spoke with a senior leader in the Deloitte GPS Division who defended the firm’s work.
“We are constantly trying to bring good value and show values because that is how we get extra work,” the old leader said.
The leader realized the notion that there was inefficiency or flatulence in federal spending and argued that the consultants brought greater efficiency to the government.
“We are constantly showing, we implemented this new tool – you saved 5,000 hours this year – or we have identified the sum x at cost or on combustion or fee or whatever it is.”
Deloitte’s leader said the value came from the behavior of industry and technology expertise that the government did not always have.
Both Mische and GPS leader Deloitte thought that contract reviews would not necessarily lead to a significant loss of business for consultations, but rather a change in work focus.
Deloitte’s leader said departments such as climate and transport have reason to feel anxious, but those in data and he “can feel too much bullies that things will get” given the Trump administration focus on automation and he.
He thought there would also be a temporary increase in opportunities thanks to consultants who had to enter as “band-aids” instead of federal employees who had been issued.
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