Edu-business pockets $60m TAFE windfall

Over the past five years, TAFE NSW has spent a staggering $60,456,959 on outsourcing to two consult-ancy companies alone, a Budget Estimates hearing has revealed.

In response to questioning, a senior TAFE NSW manager said: The expenditure with Deloitte and [Ernest & Young] included both opex [operational expenditure] and capex [capital expenditure] comprised of IT services, business management and advisory services, consulting, internal audit services and market research [economic modelling data].”

Summary of expenditure (ex GST)
FINANCIAL YEAR DELOITTE ERNST & YOUNG COMBINED TOTAL
2017 $2,382,530 $778,254 $ 3,160,784
2018 $4,576,588 $2,207,490 $ 6,784,078
2019 $13,330,998 $3,619,471 $16,950,469
2020 $16,519,945 $3,560,362 $20,080,307
2021 $13,038,779 $442,542 $13,481,321
Total $49,848,840 $10,608,119 $60,456,959

The most disturbing revelation was the development of essential teaching, learning and assessment resources being outsourced to consultants such as Deloitte and Ernst & Young. The outsourced TAFE resource development has now been further contracted out to organisations in off shore locations including the UK and India.

This year, an unprecedented 258 training packages (TAFE equivalent of curriculum) are scheduled to change. To meet compliance requirements, teaching, learning and assessment resources require signifi cant updating.

Previously, this work was performed in-house, however, some has now been outsourced to the private consultants and others. TAFE members are raising questions as to the quality and technical accuracy of the outsourced resources and timeliness in which they are available.

Members are reporting numerous technical errors in assessment tools while others have reported that the revised teaching and learning resources become available only days before, or after, classes have commenced, leaving teachers no time to socialise the new materials.

This is yet another disgraceful example of how NSW jobs are being sent deliberately off shore by the Perrottet Government.

We have overseas-built trains that don’t fi t the tracks or tunnels. We have overseas-built ferries that crack and won’t fit under bridges. We have overseas-built trams that have wheels that develop cracks shortly after the warranty expires.

We can now also add overseas-built teaching, learning and assessment resources that are not fi t for purpose to the very expensive list of NSW Government failures. The Perrottet Government needs to go.