There is public interest in government expenditure on contractors and consultants. Consistently outsourcing work that has traditionally been done by the public sector can deskill the Victorian Public Service. Additionally, these services often come at a premium.

From 2018 to 2022, the Victorian Government set targets to reduce departmental spending on contractors and consultants, but the government did not publicly report progress against these targets.

Key findings:

• Government departments are not required to, and do not consistently, record, monitor or comprehensively report on their contractor and consultant expenditure. This results in a lack of transparency.
• Departments' levels of compliance vary in their application of the requirements set out in Financial Reporting Direction 22, and some departments do not publish all the information they should. 
• Public service spending on contractors and consultants increased between 2018–19 and 2021–22, despite the spending reduction targets.