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McKinsey: 97 Federal Contracts Worth $209M, 71% Without Competition, Rules Broken at 9 of 10 Departments

From 2011 to early 2023, federal departments, agencies and Crown corporations gave McKinsey 97 contracts worth $209M. 71% of them by count, and 56% by value, went out without competition, and 9 of the 10 departments and agencies audited broke the procurement rules on at least one.

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See it in the full count of federal waste

The McKinsey contracts the Auditor General audited, 2011 to 2023

  • All contracts$209M
  • Awarded without competition$117.7M
  • Awarded by Crown corporations$115M
  • Awarded by departments and agencies$94M

Auditor General, Report 5, 2024, Exhibit 5.1 and key findings

The contracts

$209M

97 contracts, from departments, agencies and Crown corporations.

Without competition

71%

By count, 69 of 97. By value, 56%.

Rules broken

9

Of the 10 departments and agencies audited, on at least one contract.

What happened

Awarded without competition (AG): $117.7M All McKinsey contracts audited, 2011 to 2023 (AG): $209MAreas to scale
  1. 2011The audits’ period opens. By value, most McKinsey contracts are competitive until 2021, when the trend reverses, the Procurement Ombud finds. Procurement Ombud, review of the McKinsey contracts, Mar 2024
  2. Feb 2021Public Services and Procurement Canada gives McKinsey a standing offer for benchmarking, without competition. 19 contracts follow under it, worth $42.4M. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  3. Jan 2023The Commons Government Operations committee asks the Auditor General to audit the contracts. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  4. 1 Feb 2023Dominic Barton, McKinsey’s global managing partner from 2009 to 2018, tells the committee he had “no involvement whatsoever in any awarding of paid work to McKinsey” by Ottawa since he moved to Asia in 1996. Government Operations committee, meeting 49, 1 Feb 2023

  5. The Procurement Ombud’s review: contracts with and without competition

    • Contracts reviewed32
    • Issued without competition25

    Procurement Ombud, March 2024, paragraphs 14 and 15

  6. 7 Feb 2023The House of Commons unanimously backs the call for the audit. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  7. Jun 2023Treasury Board and the procurement department finish their own review of 39 contracts. Treasury Board Secretariat, review of McKinsey contracts, Jun 2023
  8. Mar 2024The Procurement Ombud reviews 32 contracts worth $112.8M, 25 of them without competition, and finds “a strong perception of favoritism towards McKinsey”. Procurement Ombud, review of the McKinsey contracts, Mar 2024
  9. Jun 2024The Auditor General reports: 97 contracts, rules broken at 9 departments and agencies and at 8 Crown corporations. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024

Most of the money went out without a contest.

Who decided

Standing offer · McKinsey benchmarking · 2021

Contracts called up
19
Their value
$42.4M
With no justification on file
18
Auditor General, Report 5, paragraphs 5.39 and 5.40
  1. Public Services and Procurement Canada, as contracting authority. gave McKinsey a benchmarking standing offer without competition in 2021, on a justification the Auditor General called “weak”. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  2. The border agency and the industry department. structured their buying “to make it easier for McKinsey”, the Auditor General found. The Ombud saw “a strong perception of favoritism”, though the buys still fit the supply arrangement. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  3. National Defence. asked McKinsey to invoice before the work was done on 2 contracts. The Auditor General: “This contravened the Financial Administration Act.” Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  4. Trans Mountain Corporation, a federal Crown corporation. awarded McKinsey $32.9M in a single contract, without competition: more than any department in the audit. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024

The Auditor General called the case for the standing offer weak, and found none on file for nearly every contract under it.

What the money bought

Who bought the most McKinsey work, 2011 to 2023

  • Trans Mountain Corporation, one contract$32.9M
  • Public Services and Procurement Canada$26.2M
  • National Defence$25.8M
  • Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship$24.5M

Auditor General, Report 5, 2024, Exhibit 5.1

Of the 33 contracts the Auditor General sampled, 19 could not show that they got value for money. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024

Of the 17 department contracts that needed security clearance, 13 could not show that the McKinsey staff had it. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024

Crown corporations bought most of it: 55% of the value. The audit was the first public examination of their McKinsey contracts, the Auditor General notes. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024

The Auditor General asked whether value could be shown, not what the advice changed.

Their figure, and the full cost

One firm · the outside-services line

McKinsey, all contracts, 2011 to 2023
$209M
Its share of comparable payments (AG)
0.27%
Professional and special services, 2024-25 alone
$19.6B
Auditor General, Report 5, paragraph 5.26; Public Accounts 2025, Table 3.9

Their figureThe Auditor General’s figure, from what departments and agencies paid: McKinsey drew 0.27% of what departments paid for comparable services from 2011-12 to 2022-23.

The full costThe full count is $209M to one firm, Crown corporations included, in a line far larger: Ottawa spent $19.6B on professional and special services in 2024-25 alone.

Who bought: Crown corporations against departments

  • Crown corporations$115M
  • Departments and agencies$94M

Auditor General, Report 5, 2024, Exhibit 5.1

The bridge
  1. The Auditor General’s count covers departments, agencies and Crown corporations: $209M, of it $115M from Crown corporations. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  2. Against what departments and agencies paid every provider of comparable services from 2011-12 to 2022-23, McKinsey’s share was 0.27%. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  3. The whole line, every firm: $19.6B in 2024-25, by the Public Accounts. Public Accounts of Canada 2025, Volume I, Table 3.9

What the full measure cannot reach yet: Crown corporations’ outside-services spending by firm, which Table 3.9 of the Public Accounts, the table we read, does not give, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s McKinsey contracts, which the audit left out.

Their best case

What the government’s reviews report

Contracts Treasury Board reviewed, 2023
39
Political interference found
None
Ombud’s recommendations
5
Treasury Board Secretariat, June 2023; Procurement Ombud, March 2024

Put as they would put it, in their own words.

  1. The Treasury Board Secretariat, 2023. Its review with the procurement department found “no evidence of political interference” and “no evidence of unethical behaviours or practices”. Treasury Board Secretariat, review of McKinsey contracts, Jun 2023
  2. Public Services and Procurement Canada, 2024. Its deputy minister told the committee the Ombud’s review found “no instances of political interference, no wrongdoing and no fraud”. Government Operations committee, meeting 119, 1 May 2024
  3. The Procurement Ombud, 2024. Low-value sole-source contracts to McKinsey fit the exceptions the rules allow. The border agency’s and industry department’s buys left “a strong perception of favoritism”, but still fit the supply arrangement. Procurement Ombud, review of the McKinsey contracts, Mar 2024
  4. The Treasury Board, 2024. Told the Auditor General it had amended its procurement directive, with new mandatory procedures for buying professional services. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024

Our read

The McKinsey contracts the Auditor General audited, 2011 to 2023

  • All contracts$209M
  • Awarded without competition$117.7M
  • Awarded by Crown corporations$115M
  • Awarded by departments and agencies$94M

Auditor General, Report 5, 2024, Exhibit 5.1 and key findings

The best case is real. Treasury Board’s review found no evidence of political interference, the procurement department’s deputy minister says the Ombud found no fraud or wrongdoing, and McKinsey’s share of the line was small.

But the record shows the rules bent toward one firm: a standing offer to McKinsey the Auditor General called weakly justified, 18 contracts under it with no justification on file, and buying plans “structured to make it easier for McKinsey”. Our read: that is favouritism in practice, whatever anyone intended.

Our read, too: the small share is the worry. The controls that failed here are the ones that guard the rest of a $19.6B line.

A small share, and broken rules. The rules are the same for every other firm.

Still open

  • Who followed the rules. We read Report 5 in full and found no name for the one department or agency, or the Crown corporations, that followed the rules.
  • CPP Investments. Left out of the audit: “We do not know how many contracts.”
Federal contracts awarded to McKinsey, 2011 to 2023: $209M

The next read

McKinsey is one firm in a line that grew far faster than the public service.

Outside professional services

The receipts

  1. Auditor General, Report 5, McKinsey contracts, Jun 2024
  2. Procurement Ombud, review of the McKinsey contracts, Mar 2024
  3. Commons Government Operations committee, Fifth Report, 2023
  4. Government Operations committee, meeting 49, 1 Feb 2023
  5. Government Operations committee, meeting 119, 1 May 2024
  6. Treasury Board Secretariat, review of McKinsey contracts, Jun 2023
  7. Public Accounts of Canada 2025, Volume I, Table 3.9

What changed

  • PublishedPublished: the McKinsey contracts and what the Auditor General and the Ombud found.