The value of federal government work outsourced to the five major consulting firms has fallen by $891 million to $1.5 billion since Labor took power in mid-2022, with a goal of reskilling and expanding the size of the public service.

New data released by the government on Monday shows that the big four consulting firms – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – and Accenture entered into about 1300 contracts in 2023-24, a reduction of 40 per cent, or about 840, from two years earlier.