Australian Defence consulting market: who wins to FY2028-29

Executive summaryDefence still buys about $1.4b of advisory and support a year, but the work has moved away from the Big 4

Answer. Defence publishes about $1.4b a year of advisory and support contracts.^{[S01 · D]} No firm dominates. The Big 4 share fell from 18% to 5% in five years.^{[S01 · D]} Integrators, SME aggregators and engineering-led consortia took the work. The base case to FY2028-29 is a smaller market that rewards trust and delivery records over scale.

$1.4badvisory and support contracts a year at award, average of FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 ^{[S01 · D]}

18% to 5%Big 4 share, FY2020-21 to FY2025-26 ^{[S01 · D]}

416suppliers in FY2025-26. The top 10 hold 38.6% ^{[S01 · D]}

22% smallerbase case for the market by FY2028-29 ^{[S01 · E]}

Situation. Defence resourcing rises from $66.4b in 2026-27 to $77.2b in 2028-29.^{[S38 · V]} Defence spent $3.47b on external labour in 2024-25.^{[S53 · V]} Advisers reach that money through panels: the Defence Support Services Panel, four Major Service Provider consortia and Finance's Management Advisory Services Panel.

Complication. Three things changed at once. Government has booked $4.2b of Defence external labour savings over the forward estimates.^{[S52 · V]} The work has been relabelled and rechannelled: contracts coded "management advisory" fell 87% while "management support" rose sixfold.^{[S01 · D]} And KPMG, the largest supplier on the main Defence panel, agreed in June 2026 to stop taking new Commonwealth work.^{[S15, S04 · V]}

Question. Who wins Defence advisory work over the next three years?

Four key lines support the answer

The market is large but under pressure. Above-the-line external workforce spend is about $3.5b a year on two methods.^{[S53 · V]}^{[S01 · D]} The base case has advisory and support contracts about 22% lower by FY2028-29.^{[S01 · E]}
The winners are not consultancies. Accenture, two SME aggregators and the engineering-led consortia took share. EY tops the scorecard on 4.3 of 5.^{[S01 · D]}
The Big 4 decline started before the KPMG pause. Deloitte, EY and KPMG fell together in FY2025-26, from a combined $191.9m to $79.6m.^{[S01 · D]} No PwC Defence contract notice has appeared in the 16 months since its own pause lifted.^{[S01 · V]}^{[S65 · V]}
Every incumbent position is open by 2028. The main Defence panel is being replaced.^{[S43 · V]} The Management Advisory Services Panel expires in September 2027.^{[S62 · V]} The buyer becomes a new agency on 1 July 2027.^{[S68 · V]}

About this report. Analysis by Kestrel from public sources. No firm it names commissioned, reviewed or endorsed it. Scores and scenarios are the author's judgement and are labelled as such. Section 6 is an outside view of how KPMG could go to market.

1This report answers four questions from public data

The report follows the Pyramid Principle: one governing thought, four key lines, evidence beneath. The issue tree below is mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE).

Branch	Question	Where answered
1. Market	How big is it, how does Defence buy, and what drives it?	Section 2
2. Competitors	Who holds the work, who is rising, and why?	Section 3
3. Outlook	What could happen by FY2028-29, and what could go wrong?	Section 4
4. The pause	What does KPMG's pause on Commonwealth work change, and what is its way back?	Sections 5 and 6

Definitions used in this report

Above the line. External people and firms who work on the Commonwealth's side of a contract, for Defence, the ADF, the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Submarine Agency. This is the standard Defence usage.^{[S51 · V]} It is visible on AusTender.
Below the line. Advice sold to industry: primes, SMEs, investors and state governments. It is mostly not visible. This report estimates it and labels the method.
Broad market. AusTender contracts coded to management advisory, management support, project management, and accounting and audit. This is the headline measure. Narrow market is the management advisory and audit codes alone.
Baseline. FY2020-21 and FY2021-22. Recent. FY2024-25 and FY2025-26. Year to date. 1 July to 13 November 2026.
Value at publication is the contract value when first published. Current value includes later amendments.

Confidence labels. Every figure carries a source ID and one label. V = Verified at the source. D = Derived, our calculation from verified data. E = Estimated, with the assumption stated. U = Unverified, used only for two Tier 3 sources in Section 6. Sources were accessed on 13 and 14 November 2026. "T3" marks a Tier 3 source.

Firms covered (18). Major: Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC, Accenture, McKinsey, BCG, Bain. Mid-tier: KBR, Jacobs / Amentum, Nova Systems, Scyne, Synergy Group, KordaMentha, BDO. Specialist: SME Gateway, ServeGate, Ngamuru. Six were included on AusTender evidence: Accenture, Jacobs / Amentum, Nova Systems, Synergy Group, SME Gateway and ServeGate. Nous Group was checked and left out: 90% of its Defence value is training.^{[S01 · D]}

2The market is about $3.5b a year above the line, and it is being cut, relabelled and rechannelled

Market sizing: two methods agree within 1%

We sized the market top-down from Defence's own expenses and bottom-up from 114,421 AusTender contract notices.^{[S01 · V]} The two agree. The advisory and support part is about $1.4b a year at award and about $2.3b a year once amendments mature.

Figure 1 Top-down and bottom-up estimates of Defence's above-the-line external workforce agree at about $3.5b a year

Source: ANAO S53 (Verified) for external labour. own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Derived: $1.43b average at award, times 1.64 amendment uplift. MSP: ANAO work program S54, Derived from $5.63b less $4.47b.

Method	Steps	Result	Label
Top-down	Defence external labour expenses in 2024-25.^{[S53 · V]} This covers contractors, consultants and outsourced providers.	$3.47b a year	Verified
Bottom-up, advisory and support	Average broad market at award for FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 ($1,427.6m), times the amendment uplift seen in the baseline cohorts (1.64).^{[S01 · D]}	$2.34b a year at maturity	Derived
Bottom-up, MSP engineering packages	MSP contracts were $4.47b at December 2023 and $5.63b at December 2024.^{[S54 · V]} The difference is one year of activity.	$1.16b a year	Derived
Bottom-up total	Sum of the two rows above.	$3.50b a year	Derived
Reconciled view	The two methods differ by 1%. Some MSP work is coded as management support, and labour hire sits outside our codes. We use a range.	$3.3b to $3.7b a year	Derived
Of which the 18 firms	20% to 35% of the broad market at award in FY2025-26 and FY2024-25.	$330m to $435m a year at award	Verified
Below the line	Assumption: industry spends 0.5% to 1.0% of Defence acquisition and sustainment outlays ($39.5b in 2026-27 ^{[S50 · V]}) on external advice. This ratio is our assumption. No public source measures it.	$0.2b to $0.4b a year	Estimated

Structure: the consultancy label has almost gone

Contracts coded "management advisory" fell from $734.2m in FY2020-21 to $96.9m in FY2025-26. Contracts coded "management support" rose from $224.2m to $1,406.3m.^{[S01 · V]} The work did not vanish. Defence now buys most of it as support, not as consultancy. That matters for three reasons. Support work runs through contractor panels, not the consultancy panel. It is priced by the day. And it is where integrators and SME aggregators compete best.

Figure 2 Defence still publishes $1.2b to $1.9b of advisory and support contracts a year, but the 'management advisory' label has fallen 87%

Show the data as a table

Code group	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Management advisory (the consultancy code)	734.2	920.2	103.6	96.9	44.5
Management support	224.2	652.4	942.1	1,406.3	703.8
ICT consulting	226.0	162.2	143.7	59.2	55.8
Project management and audit	153.9	152.3	47.5	55.7	53.2
Total	1,338.3	1,887.3	1,237.0	1,618.2	857.3

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified data, Derived grouping. Six contracts of $100m or more excluded (Appendix D).

Adjusted broad market: six contracts of $100m or more are excluded.
Measure	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Broad market, notices	2,280	2,658	1,252	1,325	524
Broad market, value at publication ($m)	1,338.3	1,887.3	1,237.0	1,618.2	857.3
Broad market, current value ($m)	2,131.7	3,164.0	1,785.9	1,866.5	822.7
Narrow market, value at publication ($m)	1,117.3	1,110.2	247.5	156.4	100.3
The 18 firms, value at publication ($m)	395.6	578.3	435.0	329.8	154.3
The 18 firms, share of broad market	29.6%	30.6%	35.2%	20.4%	18.0%
Suppliers in the broad market	592	658	435	416	211
Top 10 supplier share	38.4%	40.3%	41.1%	38.6%	45.0%

Deal size: fewer, larger contracts

Defence now lets fewer and larger advisory and support contracts. Notices under $1m fell from 2,033 in FY2020-21 to 1,036 in FY2025-26. Notices of $5m or more rose from 29 to 54, and their value rose from $374.7m to $838.6m.^{[S01 · D]} Larger packages favour firms with delivery scale and a consortium behind them.

Adjusted broad market. Cells show notices / value at publication ($m).
Contract size at publication	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Under $0.2m	1,004 / 78.5	1,032 / 89.4	376 / 31.3	397 / 34.7	118 / 9.4
$0.2m to $1m	1,029 / 470.4	1,316 / 615.6	642 / 301.1	639 / 290.3	267 / 129.5
$1m to $5m	218 / 414.7	271 / 524.1	187 / 361.4	235 / 454.6	111 / 245.9
$5m to $20m	25 / 224.6	30 / 285.5	41 / 369.2	44 / 420.8	17 / 140.7
$20m to $100m	4 / 150.1	9 / 372.7	6 / 174.0	10 / 417.8	11 / 331.8

Data limits. FY2022-23 and FY2023-24 were not harvested, because the brief set the windows. The AusTender API carries no panel ID, so "panel or open" per contract is not available. Method on AusTender is reported as open or limited tender: limited tender was 10.5% of FY2025-26 value.^{[S01 · D]} The broad codes also catch some ICT managed services.

How Defence buys: six routes, then amendments

Figure 3 Defence buys advice through six routes, and the value often doubles after the contract notice

Source: Finance and Defence panel pages S62, S39, S63, S41, S43, S60, S61, S03. Accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified, simplified by the author.

Panels decide who can be asked. Four facts matter most. The DSS Panel has allocated $8.7b since 2015, and KPMG took $1.2b of it, as reported by the Canberra Times.^{[S15 · V]} The DSS successor, the Defence Capability Support Panel, closed to tenders on 5 January 2026 with no award published.^{[S43, S44 · V]} People Panel Phase 3 started on 1 July 2026 and takes contractor categories from DSS.^{[S63, S64 · V]} The MAS Panel expires on 30 September 2027.^{[S62 · V]}

Drivers (PESTLE): money is rising, tolerance for consultants is falling

Force	What is happening	Effect on advisers
Political	Government cut consultant use as an election commitment and has booked $14.8b of savings since 2022-23.^{[S49 · V]} The Senate inquiry reported in June 2024. Government agreed 3 of 12 recommendations.^{[S58 · V]}	Negative. "Consultancy" is a label agencies avoid.
Economic	Defence resourcing: $66.4b (2026-27), $69.4b, $77.2b, $82.0b (2029-30).^{[S38 · V]} ASPI calls 2026-27 a real cut of about 4%.^{[S50 · V]} Defence external labour savings: $458.6m, $490.5m and $515.8m over three years, then $1,435.2m in 2029-30.^{[S38 · V]}	Mixed. More capability to deliver, less money for outside help.
Social	Defence APS numbers stay flat at about 20,170 while the ADF grows to 67,466.^{[S38 · V]} Roles converted from outsourced to APS total 13,200 across government.^{[S49 · V]}	Positive in the short run. The delivery task grows faster than the public workforce.
Technological	ICT and systems integration firms now win large contracts coded as management support. Accenture, Kinetic IT, Unisys, IBM and Fujitsu all rank in the top 10 in FY2025-26 or the year to date.^{[S01 · V]}	Negative for pure advisers. Delivery scale beats advice.
Legal	Ethical conduct became an explicit value-for-money factor in November 2025.^{[S60 · V]} From 1 July 2026, a variation that more than doubles a contract needs senior sign-off. The trigger falls to 50% from 1 July 2027.^{[S61 · V]} The Watt review recommends a stronger Supplier Code of Conduct.^{[S10 · V]}	Negative for the "land small, grow by amendment" model.
Environmental (operating)	The buyer is restructuring. The Defence Delivery Group began on 1 July 2026. It becomes an agency on 1 July 2027 with about $35b of budget.^{[S45, S68 · V]} The DSS Panel is being replaced.^{[S43, S44 · V]} The MSP agreement is labelled 2018 to 2026.^{[S41 · V]}	Open. Every incumbent position is up for re-competition by 2028.

Attractiveness (Porter's Five Forces): four of five forces run against suppliers

Force	Rating	Evidence
Rivalry	High	416 suppliers in FY2025-26. Top 10 hold 38.6%. The concentration index (HHI) is 211, which is very low.^{[S01 · D]}
Buyer power	Very high	One buyer group. Panels set rates. Finance can pause a supplier across the Commonwealth, as it did with PwC and KPMG.^{[S65, S04 · V]}
Threat of substitutes	High	Insourcing: the APS conversion program.^{[S49 · V]} Australian Government Consulting plans to reach 150 staff.^{[S49 · V]} Contractors through People Panel Phase 3.^{[S63 · V]}
Threat of new entrants	High	SME aggregators went from 3.5% to 6.6% share.^{[S01 · D]} Offshore buyers took Proximity, Providence and Coras.^{[S79, S101, S80 · V]} BMT launched Model26 for the next MSP competition.^{[S74 · V]}
Supplier power (talent)	Medium	Cleared specialists are scarce and mobile. Defence bars former staff from above-the-line roles for 12 months.^{[S135 · V]}

Reading. This is a large market with poor structure for suppliers. Scale does not protect anyone. Trust, clearances and delivery records do.

3No firm dominates; integrators, engineers and SME aggregators took the Big 4's share

Market map

Figure 4 The market splits into five plays; advisory firms sell beside integrators, engineers and SME channels

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Each chip shows adjusted broad contract value for FY2024-25 plus FY2025-26 at first publication (Verified data, Derived sum). Tier and segment placement is the author's judgement.

Value and share: the order has changed

In the baseline KPMG ranked first in the whole broad market in both years, at $102.4m and $114.4m.^{[S01 · V]} In FY2025-26 the top four suppliers were Group 10 Consulting, Unisys, Kinetic IT and IBM. KPMG, at $22.6m, sat outside the top 14.^{[S01 · V]}

Figure 5 Accenture, Deloitte and the SME aggregators now lead; KPMG has gone from first to sixth among the 18 firms

Show the data as a table

Firm	Baseline average (FY2020-21, FY2021-22)	Recent average (FY2024-25, FY2025-26)	Change
Accenture	10.9	70.9	+60.1
Deloitte	74.3	60.6	-13.7
SME Gateway	60.3	50.0	-10.2
ServeGate	22.1	46.4	+24.2
EY	31.5	39.2	+7.7
KPMG	108.4	36.0	-72.5
Jacobs / Amentum	25.2	19.0	-6.2
Synergy Group	43.6	13.0	-30.6
Scyne	0.0	10.2	+10.2
Nova Systems	21.3	9.2	-12.2
KBR	10.5	8.4	-2.1
Ngamuru	12.0	6.9	-5.1
BCG	7.0	6.6	-0.4
McKinsey	6.2	6.0	-0.1
PwC	53.5	0.0	-53.5
Bain	0.0	0.0	+0.0
KordaMentha	0.0	0.0	+0.0
BDO	0.2	0.0	-0.2

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Derived averages. Accenture baseline excludes CN3749665 ($114.2m).

Figure 6 Big 4 share of Defence advisory and support fell from 18% to 5% while SME aggregators overtook them

Show the data as a table

Group	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Big 4	17.8%	15.7%	15.5%	4.9%	4.4%
SME aggregators	3.5%	6.3%	6.9%	6.6%	5.3%
MBB	0.7%	0.9%	1.6%	0.3%	0.6%

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Derived shares of adjusted broad market, value at first publication.

The Big 4 fall has two steps. PwC left after FY2021-22. Then in FY2025-26 Deloitte, EY and KPMG all fell together, from a combined $191.9m to $79.6m.^{[S01 · D]} That second step came before the KPMG pause. It points to buyer behaviour, not one firm's conduct.

Figure 7 Accenture, ServeGate and EY gained the most share; KPMG and PwC lost the most

Show the data as a table

Firm	Recent share	Baseline share	Change (points)	All-category value FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 ($m)
Accenture	5.3%	0.6%	+4.6	153.1
Deloitte	4.5%	4.7%	-0.3	124.9
SME Gateway	3.5%	3.6%	-0.1	101.6
ServeGate	3.2%	1.3%	+2.0	97.5
EY	3.0%	1.8%	+1.2	92.7
KPMG	2.7%	6.9%	-4.2	77.1
Jacobs / Amentum	1.2%	1.8%	-0.6	324.7
Synergy Group	0.9%	2.7%	-1.7	33.3
Scyne	0.8%	0.0%	+0.8	22.8
Nova Systems	0.6%	1.2%	-0.6	74.1
KBR	0.5%	0.7%	-0.2	566.1
BCG	0.5%	0.4%	+0.1	14.2
Ngamuru	0.5%	0.7%	-0.2	13.8
McKinsey	0.5%	0.4%	+0.1	14.2
PwC	0.0%	3.4%	-3.4	0.0
Bain	0.0%	0.0%	+0.0	0.0
KordaMentha	0.0%	0.0%	+0.0	0.0
BDO	0.0%	0.0%	-0.0	0.0

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Derived. Bubble size is all-category contract value. Bain and KordaMentha have no notices and are not plotted. Firms under 0.7% share with little change are shown as unlabelled dots: KBR, BCG, McKinsey, Ngamuru, Nova Systems and BDO.

Access: panels and consortia decide who gets asked

Figure 8 EY is the only firm on every panel checked; KPMG holds five memberships it cannot use before 1 March 2027

Source: AusTender standing offer notices and Defence and Finance panel pages, read by the panels workstream S39, S41, S62, S46, S15, S66 T3. Accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified, except Yes* cells, which rest on a Tier 2 or Tier 3 source or have unclear current status. n/a means the member list was not available. The DSS member list could not be opened on AusTender.

Figure 9 Defence delivery runs through four MSP consortia; KPMG sits outside all of them, and senior KPMG people have moved to four rivals

Source: consortium membership from Defence and firm pages; deals and moves from firm releases and trade press: S41, S75, S73, S72, S74, S83, S101, S76, S96, S82, S81, S79, S80, S70, S85, S84, S01. Accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified. Subcontract links are not public and are not shown.

Capability and dominance

Figure 10 Capability is broad at Deloitte, KPMG and EY, deep but narrow at the engineers and strategy firms

Source: Derived by the author from each firm's AusTender category mix and largest contracts (S01), and firm pages. 0 = no evidence, 1 = some, 2 = established, 3 = strong. Accessed 13 Nov 2026.

Figure 11 No firm dominates: EY leads on 4.3 of 5, and KPMG ranks eleventh because access and trust both score 1

Show the data as a table

Firm	Current scale (30%)	Momentum (15%)	Panel access (15%)	Capability breadth (15%)	Ecosystem (10%)	Licence to operate (15%)	Weighted score
EY	4	4	5	5	4	4	4.30
Deloitte	4	3	5	5	4	3	4.00
Accenture	5	5	2	3	4	4	4.00
KBR	3	3	4	3	5	4	3.50
Scyne	2	4	5	3	4	4	3.40
ServeGate	4	5	1	1	4	4	3.25
SME Gateway	4	3	1	2	4	4	3.10
Nova Systems	2	2	3	2	5	5	2.90
Jacobs / Amentum	2	2	4	2	4	4	2.80
Synergy Group	2	1	4	3	3	4	2.70
KPMG	3	1	1	5	2	1	2.30
BCG	2	3	1	2	2	4	2.30
Ngamuru	2	3	1	2	2	4	2.30
KordaMentha	1	3	1	2	2	4	2.00
BDO	1	3	2	1	1	4	1.90
McKinsey	1	3	1	1	2	4	1.85
Bain	1	3	1	1	1	3	1.60
PwC	1	1	3	1	2	2	1.55

Source: author's scorecard. Scale, momentum, access and breadth are Derived by rule from this report's data. Ecosystem and licence to operate are Estimated judgements. Weights and component scores are in the table.

How to read the scorecard. Six criteria, weights shown in the table. Four are scored by rule from data. Two are judgement. EY leads on 4.30. Deloitte and Accenture follow on 4.00. KPMG scores 2.30: capability 5, scale 3, ecosystem 2, and 1 each for momentum, access and licence to operate.

Major firm profiles

Deloitte: the steadiest Big 4 position, built on finance and program support

Scorecard rank 2 of 18 (4.00 of 5)Recent average $60.6m a yearShare change -0.3 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	54	91	48	21	9
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	88.2	107.2	80.1	44.8	58.3
Current value after amendments ($m)	176.2	149.0	122.8	54.3	59.0
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	73.7	75.0	77.5	43.7	16.7
Share of adjusted broad market	5.5%	4.0%	6.3%	2.7%	1.9%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Finance and accounting for the Defence Finance Group, project management for joint capabilities and people groups, and cyber. Mix by value: management advisory $139.5m, management support $134.9m.^{[S01 · V]}

Largest notices

CN3760681: Enhanced Capability Implementation, ASD. $1.4m at publication, $48.9m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3713547: Accounting Services, DFG. $24.7m at publication, $43.0m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4286226: Budget, Taxation and Financial Services, DFG. $41.1m at publication, $41.1m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

Bought 49% of the former PwC Indigenous Consulting, now Yamagigu, in 2024.^{[S96 · V]} Names AWS for sensitive cloud work.^{[S97 · V]} About 170 redundancies in October 2026 while hiring 500 into managed services, as reported by the AFR through HRD.^{[S98 · V]} FY26 revenue $2.55b.^{[S87 · V]} A $440,000 report for another department was part-refunded after AI-generated errors, as reported by the AFR through Accounting Times.^{[S32 · V]}

Three-year outlook

Holds. A $41.1m finance services contract signed in November 2026 runs to December 2029.^{[S01 · V]} Risk: its accounting contract grew from $24.7m to $43.0m over 26 amendments. The new variation rules target that pattern.^{[S61 · V]}

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt advisory $139.5m, Mgmt support $134.9m, Project mgmt $12.2m, ICT $4.9m, Other $87.1m. Panels: DSS Panel yes, MSP no, MAS Panel yes, Defence ICTPA yes, Infrastructure Panel yes, ANAO panel yes. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 4, Momentum 3, Panel access 5, Capability breadth 5, Ecosystem 4, Licence to operate 3.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: Deloitte is the benchmark for a Big 4 firm that kept its Defence licence. It did so in finance and enabling functions, not in capability delivery.

EY: the only Big 4 firm inside a Major Service Provider consortium

Scorecard rank 1 of 18 (4.30 of 5)Recent average $39.2m a yearShare change +1.2 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	22	34	20	11	4
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	20.6	65.2	79.4	13.3	14.5
Current value after amendments ($m)	74.5	135.2	106.8	19.5	14.5
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	14.1	48.9	65.1	13.3	14.5
Share of adjusted broad market	1.1%	2.6%	5.3%	0.8%	1.7%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Change management and security resourcing for the Defence Digital Group and joint capabilities. Mix: management support $98.2m, management advisory $57.6m.^{[S01 · V]} Partner to KBR in the KEY consortium since 2018.^{[S73, S41 · V]}

Largest notices

CN3843272: Organisational Change Management and Communications, DDG. $28.4m at publication, $84.7m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4093907: Change Management Services, DDG. $51.8m at publication, $51.8m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3747028: Security Resources, JCG. $2.5m at publication, $34.6m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

KBR's defence business becomes Trinzic on 4 January 2027.^{[S72, S69 · V]} Whether the EY teaming moves with it is not available. EY cut roles in April 2024, February 2025 and November 2025. FY26 revenue was $2.67b, with consulting down 8.4%.^{[S95, S88 · V]} EY is on all six panels checked.

Three-year outlook

Lumpy. One $51.8m contract to January 2028 carries FY2024-25. FY2025-26 fell to $13.3m.^{[S01 · V]} The MSP re-competition is the main risk and the main prize.

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt support $98.2m, Mgmt advisory $57.6m, ICT $11.2m, Other $25.8m. Panels: DSS Panel yes, MSP yes, MAS Panel yes, Defence ICTPA yes, Infrastructure Panel yes, ANAO panel yes. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 4, Momentum 4, Panel access 5, Capability breadth 5, Ecosystem 4, Licence to operate 4.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: EY tops the scorecard because of access, not volume. Its seat in the KBR consortium is the asset others lack.

KPMG: first in the baseline, sixth now, paused until at least 28 February 2027

Scorecard rank 11 of 18 (2.30 of 5)Recent average $36.0m a yearShare change -4.2 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	152	123	47	42	3
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	119.9	266.2	51.6	25.5	6.4
Current value after amendments ($m)	211.1	423.1	79.8	24.4	6.4
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	102.4	114.4	49.3	22.6	6.4
Share of adjusted broad market	7.7%	6.1%	4.0%	1.4%	0.7%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Program and project support, strategic advice, change and data work across the Defence Digital Group, people group and Air Force. KPMG was the top DSS supplier of the decade, as reported by the Canberra Times.^{[S15 · V]}

Largest notices

CN3879122: Enterprise Information Management Systems Integration, CIOG. $110.1m at publication, $113.0m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3838245: ICT Services, DDG. $21.4m at publication, $27.2m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4109135: Project Support Services, Air Force. $5.6m at publication, $21.7m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

Mutual pause on new Commonwealth work from 16 June 2026.^{[S04 · V]} Two former Defence partners launched KordaMentha's Defence practice in January 2025.^{[S70, S78 · V]} In 2026 named leaders moved to Synergy Group, Scyne and KordaMentha.^{[S84, S85, S86 · V]}

Three-year outlook

Depends on how the pause ends (Section 5). Existing contracts grew by a net $24.6m through amendments during the pause.^{[S01 · D]}

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt advisory $169.8m, Mgmt support $105.2m, ICT $14.5m, Project mgmt $11.1m, Other $169.0m. Panels: DSS Panel member, paused, MSP no, MAS Panel member, paused, Defence ICTPA member, paused, Infrastructure Panel member, paused, ANAO panel member, paused. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 3, Momentum 1, Panel access 1, Capability breadth 5, Ecosystem 2, Licence to operate 1.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: The capability score is still 5 of 5. Access and trust both score 1. Section 5 covers the pause.

PwC: absent from Defence since FY2021-22, and still absent after its pause lifted

Scorecard rank 18 of 18 (1.55 of 5)Recent average $0.0m a yearShare change -3.4 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	73	75	0	0	0
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	71.0	98.8	0.0	0.0	0.0
Current value after amendments ($m)	102.5	143.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	48.5	58.4	0.0	0.0	0.0
Share of adjusted broad market	3.6%	3.1%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Nothing in the recent periods. In the baseline it sold program management and ICT project services worth $48.5m to $58.4m a year.^{[S01 · V]}

Largest notices

CN3765777: Program Management Implementation Team, ADFHQ. $9.4m at publication, $23.6m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3794965: Project Services, CIOG. $6.4m at publication, $19.2m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3829955: ICT Security Services, CIOG. $13.2m at publication, $13.2m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

Sold its government business to Allegro Funds in November 2023. It became Scyne Advisory.^{[S76 · V]} PwC's agreement not to bid ended on 15 July 2025.^{[S65 · V]} Accounting Times reports PwC can compete for general government contracts from 9 November 2028.^{[S31 · V]} Bought Advancy's Australian practice in October 2026.^{[S89 · V]}

Three-year outlook

Marginal before late 2028. PwC has no Defence people left to sell and is not on the MAS Panel.

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt advisory $95.1m, ICT $9.9m, Project mgmt $7.5m, Mgmt support $3.7m, Other $53.6m. Panels: DSS Panel yes*, MSP no, MAS Panel no, Defence ICTPA no, Infrastructure Panel yes, ANAO panel yes. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 1, Momentum 1, Panel access 3, Capability breadth 1, Ecosystem 2, Licence to operate 2.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: PwC is the base rate. Sixteen months after its pause ended it has no Defence contract notice. A lifted pause does not bring work back.

Accenture: the largest of the 18 by recent value, selling integration as support

Scorecard rank 3 of 18 (4.00 of 5)Recent average $70.9m a yearShare change +4.6 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	14	21	10	6	3
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	127.4	43.4	92.8	60.3	38.2
Current value after amendments ($m)	199.9	177.5	142.3	79.7	38.2
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	4.2	17.5	92.8	49.0	23.6
Share of adjusted broad market	0.3%	0.9%	7.5%	3.0%	2.8%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Systems integration, cloud operations and sustainment, mostly coded as management support ($242.0m).^{[S01 · V]} Buyers: Defence Digital Group, joint capabilities, estate and the Submarine Agency.

Largest notices

CN3749665: Project Management Support Services, DDG. $114.2m at publication, $164.1m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3834297: Service Connect Systems Integration, SEG. $11.5m at publication, $80.0m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4125494: Systems Integration Services, SEG. $13.4m at publication, $53.9m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

Bought CyberCX, with about 1,400 staff. The deal closed on 27 February 2026.^{[S82 · V]} On the MAS Panel and the Defence ICT panel. Not in an MSP consortium.

Three-year outlook

Strong. $38.2m in the year to date, including $14.6m at the Submarine Agency.^{[S01 · V]} Risk: Defence insources ICT labour.

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt support $242.0m, ICT $62.5m, Mgmt advisory $8.6m, Other $49.0m. Panels: DSS Panel n/a, MSP no, MAS Panel yes, Defence ICTPA yes, Infrastructure Panel no, ANAO panel no. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 5, Momentum 5, Panel access 2, Capability breadth 3, Ecosystem 4, Licence to operate 4.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: Accenture shows where the money went: from advice to delivery at scale. Advisers compete with it for the same budget line.

McKinsey: small in dollars, placed at the Submarine Agency

Scorecard rank 16 of 18 (1.85 of 5)Recent average $6.0m a yearShare change +0.1 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	5	4	10	5	0
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	5.8	16.3	11.8	2.4	0.0
Current value after amendments ($m)	6.6	34.5	14.0	2.4	0.0
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	5.8	6.5	10.7	1.4	0.0
Share of adjusted broad market	0.4%	0.3%	0.9%	0.1%	0.0%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Strategy and reviews. A $9.5m industrial uplift strategy contract at the Submarine Agency, now $12.7m.^{[S01 · V]} Earlier work for Army and Air Force.

Largest notices

CN3814643: Computer Services, Army. $9.8m at publication, $27.9m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4101355: Industrial Uplift Strategy Delivery Partner, ASA. $9.5m at publication, $12.7m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN3832314: Management Support Services, Air Force. $6.4m at publication, $6.4m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

On the MAS Panel only. No Defence partnership found. No 2026 Defence moves found in public sources.

Three-year outlook

Episodic. No notices in the year to date.^{[S01 · V]} Demand follows reviews and new agencies.

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt advisory $24.4m, ICT $9.8m, Training $2.2m, Mgmt support $0.1m. Panels: DSS Panel n/a, MSP no, MAS Panel yes, Defence ICTPA no, Infrastructure Panel no, ANAO panel no. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 1, Momentum 3, Panel access 1, Capability breadth 1, Ecosystem 2, Licence to operate 4.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: McKinsey takes the mandate, not the volume. It is not a rival for program support work.

BCG: small, repeat work at the Submarine Agency and the Defence Digital Group

Scorecard rank 12 of 18 (2.30 of 5)Recent average $6.6m a yearShare change +0.1 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	3	4	6	3	2
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	3.5	10.8	10.5	3.7	5.5
Current value after amendments ($m)	20.8	10.8	33.9	5.7	5.5
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	3.2	10.8	9.5	3.7	5.5
Share of adjusted broad market	0.2%	0.6%	0.8%	0.2%	0.6%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

Organisational and performance reviews. A Submarine Agency review grew from $2.8m to $12.1m. Four other FY2024-25 contracts grew by amendment.^{[S01 · V]}

Largest notices

CN3764882: Review and Support Services, NSSG. $3.2m at publication, $20.4m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4115468: Organisational Review Services, ASA. $2.8m at publication, $12.1m now.^{[S01 · V]}
CN4125502: Development Support Services, ASSEC. $3.2m at publication, $6.6m now.^{[S01 · V]}

Moves, partners and people

On the MAS Panel only. A $5.0m limited-tender contract in August 2026.^{[S01 · V]} No Defence partnership found.

Three-year outlook

Steady at $4m to $11m a year at award. The new variation rules bite hardest here: one contract grew more than fourfold.^{[S01 · D]}

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): Mgmt advisory $25.9m, Mgmt support $6.8m, ICT $1.3m. Panels: DSS Panel n/a, MSP no, MAS Panel yes, Defence ICTPA no, Infrastructure Panel no, ANAO panel no. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 2, Momentum 3, Panel access 1, Capability breadth 2, Ecosystem 2, Licence to operate 4.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: BCG wins by direct approach on reviews. It is the firm most exposed to tighter variation controls.

Bain: not a participant in Australian Defence advisory

Scorecard rank 17 of 18 (1.60 of 5)Recent average $0.0m a yearShare change +0.0 points ^{[S01 · D]}

AusTender, Defence	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices, all categories	0	0	0	0	0
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Current value after amendments ($m)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Share of adjusted broad market	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · V]}. Shares are Derived.

What Defence buys from them

No Defence contract notice in any of the five periods.^{[S01 · V]}

Largest notices

No Defence contract notices found in the five periods.

Moves, partners and people

Not on any of the six panels checked. No Defence practice, deal or partnership found in public sources.

Three-year outlook

No change expected.

Category mix across the five periods (value at publication): no notices. Panels: DSS Panel n/a, MSP no, MAS Panel no, Defence ICTPA no, Infrastructure Panel no, ANAO panel no. Scorecard components (1 to 5): Current scale 1, Momentum 3, Panel access 1, Capability breadth 1, Ecosystem 1, Licence to operate 3.^{[S01 · D]}

So what: Bain is in scope by request. It is not a competitor in this market.

Mid-tier and specialist firms

Firm	Recent average ($m a year)	Share change	Role	Ownership and partners	What changed	Outlook
KBR	8.4	-0.2	MSP lead (KEY). Engineering and project support. All-category value $473.6m in FY2025-26.^{[S01 · V]}	EY partner.^{[S73 · V]} BMT partnership.^{[S139 · V]}	Defence business becomes Trinzic on 4 January 2027.^{[S72 · V]}	Strong, with a handover risk in 2027.
Jacobs / Amentum	19.0	-0.6	MSP lead. Engineering and delivery.	Jacobs spun its government units into Amentum in 2024.^{[S99 · V]} Amentum now contracts under the former Jacobs Australia ABN.^{[S01 · V]}	Amentum joint venture picked for the Osborne submarine yard.^{[S100 · V]}	Strong in delivery. Advisory arm is small.
Nova Systems	9.2	-0.6	MSP lead (Team Nova). Engineering and test.	Scyne and QinetiQ are core partners.^{[S75 · V]}	Scyne replaced PwC in the team.	Steady. Australian-owned positioning helps.
Scyne	10.2	+0.8	Former PwC government practice. Support work for the Defence Intelligence Group.	Owned by Allegro Funds.^{[S76 · V]} Team Nova member.	Cut about 100 roles in April 2025.^{[S77 · V]} Hired four managing directors in 2026.	Growing off a low base.
Synergy Group	13.0	-1.7	Canberra adviser. Management advisory and support.	Centerstone Capital took a majority stake in June 2026.^{[S81, S111 · V]}	KPMG's strategy chief is reported to be joining to run the firm.^{[S84 · V]}	Fell from $43.6m to $13.0m a year. New capital may reverse it.
KordaMentha	no notices	0.0	New Defence and national security practice.	Independent. No audit or tax arm.^{[S78 · V]}	Led by two former KPMG Defence partners. Canberra office at five partners.^{[S70, S86 · V]}	Watch. People are in place. Contracts are not visible on AusTender. See Appendix E.
BDO	0.0	0.0	Audit-led. Under $1m of Defence work.	On the MAS and ANAO panels.	Adding Canberra partners from the Big 4.	Marginal in Defence.
SME Gateway	50.0	-0.1	SME aggregator. Places small firms and individuals into support roles.	Channel for many SMEs.	74 broad notices in FY2025-26.^{[S01 · V]}	Strong. SME rules favour it.
ServeGate	46.4	+2.0	SME aggregator. Growing at the Submarine Agency ($18.0m in FY2025-26).^{[S01 · V]}	Channel for many SMEs.	Overtook SME Gateway in FY2025-26.	Strong.
Ngamuru	6.9	-0.2	Commercial, procurement and probity advice.	Private company founded by a former CASG deputy secretary.^{[S103, S104 · V]} The firm states it is not Aboriginal-owned.^{[S131 · V]} See Appendix F.	Won $3.9m at the Submarine Agency in July 2026.^{[S01 · V]}	Steady niche.

Source: own AusTender analysis ^{[S01 · D]} for values. Recent average is the adjusted broad market, average of FY2024-25 and FY2025-26. Share change is in percentage points against the baseline.

People moves in 2026 and what they mean for each firm

Public announcements only. No motives or terms are inferred.

Firm	2026 moves in public sources	Implication
KPMG	The CEO, chair and several senior leaders left between May and November.^{[S138, S137 · V]} Named exits with a government link went to Synergy Group, Scyne and KordaMentha.^{[S84, S85, S86 · V]} No public source names a Defence partner leaving in 2026.	The visible change is in leadership. No public source measures any change in the Defence team.
KordaMentha	Eight senior Big 4 hires in 2026. Canberra office at five partners and directors.^{[S86, S92 · V]}	A direct rival for Defence advisory relationships. It sells independence from audit.
Scyne	Four managing director hires, including a former KPMG cyber partner.^{[S85 · V]}	Rebuilding senior depth.
Synergy Group	New executive chair from Centerstone. KPMG's former strategy chief reported to lead the firm.^{[S81, S84 · V]}	Capital plus leadership. Likely to bid hard for Canberra work.
Deloitte	Hired three KPMG restructuring partners, as reported by the AFR through Accounting Times.^{[S136 · V]} About 170 redundancies.^{[S98 · V]}	Hiring selectively from KPMG. No Defence team move found.
EY	Internal promotions only. Firm headcount down.^{[S88 · V]}	No sign of a Defence build. Stability is the asset.
PwC, Accenture, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, BDO, KBR, Jacobs, Nova, Ngamuru, SME Gateway, ServeGate	No Defence-specific 2026 move found in public sources.	No inference drawn. Absence of reports is not evidence of no moves.
Buyer side	New Defence Secretary. National Armaments Director designate from 9 November 2026.^{[S25, S107 · V]} A former Submarine Agency deputy joined Nous in late 2025.^{[S90 · V]}	Relationships reset for every firm. Incumbent ties are worth less than a year ago.

4The base case to FY2028-29 is a smaller market that rewards trust and delivery over scale

Three scenarios (Scenario Planning)

The scenarios turn on two questions. Does Defence deliver its external labour savings? Can the new Defence Delivery Agency do its work without outside partners? All projections are Estimated.

Figure 12 The base case is a market about 22% smaller by FY2028-29; only a delivery surge keeps it growing

Show the data as a table

Scenario	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27	FY2027-28	FY2028-29
Delivery surge (20%)	$1.24b	$1.62b	$1.68b	$1.75b	$1.82b
Managed squeeze (50%)	$1.24b	$1.62b	$1.49b	$1.37b	$1.26b
Hard insourcing (30%)	$1.24b	$1.62b	$1.38b	$1.17b	$0.99b

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. for FY2024-25 and FY2025-26 (Verified). Projections are Estimated: growth of +4%, -8% and -15% a year, anchored on Defence external labour savings in S38 and S52. Probabilities are the author's judgement.

Scenario	What happens	Market in FY2028-29	Who gains	Signposts to watch
Managed squeeze 50%	Defence delivers most of its external labour savings. Support work moves to People Panel Phase 3 and the new capability panel. Advice is bought in smaller, fixed scopes.	$1.26b at award, down 22% on FY2025-26 ^{[S01 · E]}	SME aggregators, integrators with managed services, firms with clean records.	Defence external labour expenses fall below $3.2b in the 2026-27 annual report. DCSP awarded by mid-2027. Variation approvals slow.
Hard insourcing 30%	Savings land in full. The Defence Delivery Agency builds in-house commercial and project teams. A stronger Supplier Code of Conduct follows the Watt review. Another large firm is paused.	$0.99b at award, down 39% ^{[S01 · E]}	Australian Government Consulting, SME channels, engineering firms on long packages.	A second Finance pause on any large firm. AGC passes 100 staff. The MAS Panel refresh cuts supplier numbers. The Agency advertises large APS commercial intakes.
Delivery surge 20%	AUKUS and the 2026 strategy outrun the public workforce. Savings slip. The Agency buys delivery partners at scale.	$1.82b at award, up 12% ^{[S01 · E]}	MSP consortia, integrators, Big 4 firms with cleared scale.	Savings targets deferred at MYEFO. Submarine Agency contract value passes $150m a year. A new MSP tender with larger work packages.

Why the base case is a squeeze, not a collapse. Defence external labour fell 7.1% in 2024-25, from $3.73b to $3.47b.^{[S53 · V]} Yet AusTender advisory and support contracts rose 31% in FY2025-26.^{[S01 · D]} The cut is real in the accounts and not yet visible in new contracts. We split the difference at 8% a year.

Three-year risk registers by tier

Figure 13 Nine of fifteen risks score 12 or more; budget cuts and conduct shocks lead every tier

Source: author's assessment. Estimated. Scores are likelihood times impact over FY2026-27 to FY2028-29. Risk text is in the registers below.

Major firms (Big 4, Accenture, MBB)

ID	Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Score	Mitigation
M1	Defence external labour savings of $4.2b land in full and remove advisory demand.^{[S52 · V]}	4	4	16	Shift to fixed-scope work and managed services. Hold cost base to the base case.
M2	A conduct matter leads Finance to pause another large firm under a stronger Supplier Code.	3	5	15	Firm-wide conflicts and confidentiality controls. Early disclosure to Finance.
M3	Variation controls end growth by amendment. The trigger falls to 50% from 1 July 2027.^{[S61 · V]}	4	3	12	Scope contracts at full value. Re-approach the market openly.
M4	Panel and MSP re-competitions by 2028 reset incumbency.	3	4	12	Decide consortium positions in 2027. Invest in bid quality.
M5	Cleared specialists move to boutiques and investor-backed mid-tier firms.	3	3	9	Retention tied to tenure. Secondments. Clear career paths.

Mid-tier firms (MSP leads, Scyne, Synergy, KordaMentha, BDO)

ID	Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Score	Mitigation
T1	The MSP re-competition changes consortia. Model26 and Trinzic unsettle teams.^{[S74, S72 · V]}	4	4	16	Lock partners early. Keep an alternative team ready.
T2	Ownership changes distract firms and raise sovereignty questions.	3	4	12	Disclose ownership and controls to Defence before bids.
T3	Defence converts contractor roles to APS roles.	4	3	12	Move up to packaged outcomes. Reduce day-rate exposure.
T4	Cash strain at investor-backed firms.	2	4	8	Monitor counterparties. Avoid single-partner dependence.
T5	Rules on working above and below the line on the same project limit engineers' advisory work.^{[S106 · V]}	3	3	9	Separate teams and registers by project.

Specialist firms (SME Gateway, ServeGate, Ngamuru)

ID	Risk	Likelihood	Impact	Score	Mitigation
S1	Rate pressure on People Panel Phase 3 squeezes aggregator margins.	4	3	12	Specialise by skill set. Add higher-value advisory.
S2	Policy changes how SME aggregation counts toward SME targets.	3	4	12	Show real SME pass-through. Diversify buyers.
S3	Key-person dependence at small firms.	3	3	9	Broaden ownership and client leads.
S4	A security or probity incident ends a small firm's licence to operate.	2	5	10	Invest in Defence Industry Security Program controls.
S5	Large firms return through SME channels once pauses lift.	4	2	8	Set clear subcontract terms. Protect direct relationships.

Source: author's assessment. Estimated. Likelihood and impact are scored 1 to 5 for FY2026-27 to FY2028-29.

The contrarian view: this market may not be worth the licence risk

The strongest case against this report's conclusion runs as follows.

The real advisory market is small. Contracts coded as consultancy were $96.9m in FY2025-26.^{[S01 · V]} The rest of the "broad market" is support labour and ICT services. The 18 firms together won $329.8m at award, 20% of it.^{[S01 · D]} A firm that sells advice is fighting over perhaps $100m to $330m a year, not $1.6b.
It is shrinking by design. Savings of $4.2b are in the budget.^{[S52 · V]} Insourcing is policy.^{[S49 · V]} Consultancy contracts of $2m or more now carry extra reporting.^{[S49 · V]}
The economics are worsening. Day-rate panels, SME-only rules below $125,000 and limits on variations all cut margin.^{[S60, S61 · V]}
The downside is firm-wide. Commonwealth work was 9.5% of KPMG's revenue.^{[S13 · V]} The pause, the review and three years of monitoring touch the whole firm. Defence work drew adverse coverage in 2023 as well.^{[S34 · V]}
Lifted pauses do not restore work. PwC has no Defence contract notice 16 months after its pause ended.^{[S01 · V]}

Where this view is right. No advisory firm should plan on the old scale returning. Where it goes too far. It ignores the $3.5b total above-the-line spend,^{[S53 · V]} the growing delivery task, and the value of a cleared workforce that also sells into industry and allied markets. A smaller practice built on fixed scopes can still pay.

5KPMG's pause ends no earlier than 28 February 2027, and the record suggests its old position will not return with it

This section is an outside view from public data. It describes. Section 6 gives a view on the way back.

5.1 What is confirmed

Claim	Status	Evidence
KPMG is paused from new Commonwealth work until at least 28 February 2027	Confirmed	Finance policy notes and KPMG's own response.^{[S03, S07 · V]}
The review criticised the firm's conduct	Confirmed, as reported	The Finance-commissioned review found the firm "mishandled" a whistleblower matter, as reported by Reuters.^{[S13 · V]} The same review said KPMG should not be treated as permanently unsuitable.^{[S13 · V]}
KPMG has cut costs	Confirmed	27 partners and about 360 staff in August 2026.^{[S08, S14 · V]} Up to 400 more roles by the end of November, as reported by the AFR through trade press.^{[S26, S27 · V]}
KPMG has cut its specialist Defence workforce	Not confirmed	No public source gives a number. Defence billings are reported to have halved.^{[S26 · V]}

5.2 The fall came before the pause

KPMG ranked first in Defence advisory and support in FY2020-21 and FY2021-22. By FY2025-26 its new contract value had fallen 79%, and it ranked outside the top 14.^{[S01 · D]} That year ended two weeks after the pause began. The pause did not cause the fall.

Figure 14 KPMG's new Defence advisory contract value fell 79% from the baseline to FY2025-26, before the pause began

Show the data as a table

Measure	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Notices (all categories)	152	123	47	42	3
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	119.9	266.2	51.6	25.5	6.4
Current value after amendments ($m)	211.1	423.1	79.8	24.4	6.4
Broad market value at publication ($m)	102.4	114.4	49.3	22.6	6.4
Share of adjusted broad market	7.7%	6.1%	4.0%	1.4%	0.7%

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified.

Measure	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Defence contract notices	152	123	47	42	3
Value at publication, all categories ($m)	119.9	266.2	51.6	25.5	6.4
Advisory and support at publication ($m)	102.4	114.4	49.3	22.6	6.4
Share of adjusted broad market	7.7%	6.1%	4.0%	1.4%	0.7%
Rank in the broad market, all suppliers	1	1	4	below 14	below 10
Current value after amendments ($m)	211.1	423.1	79.8	24.4	6.4

What other sources add. The Canberra Times counts $734.1m across 310 Defence contracts from FY2022-23 to FY2025-26.^{[S15 · V]} So the peak fell in the two years this report did not harvest. The AFR, through trade press, reports Defence billings above $300m a year at the peak, about $150m last year and under $60m in the first four months of this year.^{[S26, S27 · V]}

Why it fell. Three visible causes. First, the buyer moved from consultancy to support work, where aggregators and integrators compete on price and scale (Section 2). Second, growth by amendment is now regulated: KPMG's FY2021-22 contracts grew 2.12 times after signing.^{[S01 · D]}^{[S61 · V]} Third, two Defence partners left in January 2025 to found a rival practice (Appendix E).^{[S70 · V]}

5.3 What the pause permits and forbids

Topic	What the public terms say
Form and dates	A mutual agreement between KPMG and Finance, not a debarment. It began on 16 June 2026. No new contract for any approach to market that closes before 1 March 2027.^{[S03, S04 · V]}
Covered	New engagements with entities under the Commonwealth Procurement Rules. This includes panel work orders, and any new third-party contract where KPMG is a subcontractor.^{[S03 · V]}
Still permitted	Variation of existing contracts, including extension options within them, where the entity's accountable authority approves. Ongoing licensing or sale of KPMG proprietary products already in use.^{[S03 · V]}
Conditions	An implementation plan to Finance by 15 November 2026. Quarterly reports, the first by 29 January 2027. Monitoring for three years. Finance may reinstate restrictions if reform stalls.^{[S05, S07 · V]}
States	Western Australia has a matching restriction to 28 February 2027.^{[S37 · V]}
Not yet stated	The Defence Capability Support Panel tender closed on 5 January 2026.^{[S44 · V]} How the pause applies to a panel deed from that tender has not been stated publicly.

Existing work continues. KPMG's existing Defence contracts grew by a net $24.6m through amendments between 16 June and 13 November 2026.^{[S01 · D]} The Canberra Times reported a similar figure in September.^{[S16 · V]}

5.4 What the record says about a return

The base rate is weak. PwC's agreement not to bid ended on 15 July 2025.^{[S65 · V]} No PwC Defence contract notice has appeared since.^{[S01 · V]} PwC had sold its government practice, so the comparison is imperfect.^{[S76 · V]}
The market it returns to is different. In FY2025-26 the largest supplier of any kind held 5.6% of the broad market, and none of the 18 firms held more than 3.4%.^{[S01 · D]} KPMG's baseline share was 6.9%.^{[S01 · D]}
Three things will decide how much comes back. Finance's view of the reform program. How many cleared Defence specialists stay. Whether the firm can sell fixed scopes under the new variation rules.

5.5 What it means for the market

Competition. Three rivals hired senior former KPMG staff in 2025 and 2026: KordaMentha, Scyne and Synergy Group.^{[S70, S85, S84 · V]}
Defence. Supply risk is low. The market has 416 suppliers and no supplier above 6%.^{[S01 · D]} Continuity on existing KPMG contracts is protected by the variation exemption.^{[S03 · V]}
The wider lesson. Finance has now paused new work from two of the Big 4.^{[S65, S04 · V]} Conduct is a first-order commercial risk for every firm in this market (Section 4).

6An outside view: KPMG's way back starts with industry, and Defence-facing selling should wait for Finance

Status. This is Kestrel's view from public sources. KPMG did not commission, review or endorse it. It is not KPMG's plan. Targets and splits are estimates.

Section 5 describes the pause. This section asks a narrower question: who should KPMG talk to, what should it say, and when? It uses a standard campaign frame: objective, audience, message, channel, measure.

6.1 Three rules, then three phases

The pause covers contracts, not conversation. Holding back is still the better call. The terms bar new engagements.^{[S03 · V]} They do not bar publishing. But the review wants proof that reform changes behaviour,^{[S12 · V]} and Finance can reinstate restrictions.^{[S05 · V]} A sales push at Defence before the lift would read as business as usual. This is a judgement, not legal advice.
People lead. The brand follows. In a 2025 Edelman and LinkedIn survey of about 2,000 professionals, 95% of the less visible members of a buying group said strong thought leadership made them more open to outreach.^{[S149 · V]} In the same survey, 86% wanted ideas that challenge their thinking.^{[S150 · V]} Both sponsors have an interest in that answer. In Defence this year the brand carries the review. Named leaders with a delivery record carry more weight.
Proof before promise. Every message needs a number, a named team or an outside check.

Phase	Audience	The line to lead with	Channels	What to avoid
1. Quiet now to 28 Feb 2027	Industry: primes, suppliers, investors. Existing Defence clients, on delivery only.	"Be contract-ready before the tender opens."	Posts by named leaders. Supplier roundtables at two events. Data notes.	A Defence-facing campaign. Sponsorship of a Canberra event. Any "back in business" line. Comment on the review beyond the published response.
2. Re-enter March to June 2027, only after a written lift	Defence program and commercial leaders. The Delivery Group.	"Fixed scope. Named team. Checked by someone else."	Briefings on request. Trade press articles. Panel responses.	Discounting to buy back share. Any reform claim that Finance has not accepted.
3. Position FY2027-28	The Agency. Panel evaluators. Consortium partners.	"Judge the firm on how little its contracts grow."	Indo Pacific 2027. A data report twice a year. Tender responses.	Growth by amendment above the 50% trigger.

A fair test. By 30 June 2027: 40 qualified conversations with suppliers and investors, and 12 proposals. Estimated.

6.2 Focus capabilities: four offers, not a service list

Four offers fit the evidence. Two are open now. Two wait for the lift.

Focus offer	Buyer	Their problem, in their words	Why it fits, on the evidence	Opens
1. Defence readiness for suppliers	Mid-tier suppliers and SMEs. Supply-chain leads at primes.	"We can do the work. We cannot get through the tender."	Defence lets half as many small contracts as five years ago: 2,033 to 1,036.^{[S01 · D]} The 2026 strategy adds $53b over the decade.^{[S48 · V]}	Now. The pause does not apply.
2. Deals and investor diligence	Private equity, trade buyers, lenders.	"We like the asset. We cannot price the Defence risk."	Nine Australian defence deals worth US$361m by June 2026, a record count.^{[S102 · V]} Contract-level data of the kind in this report is what a buyer needs.	Now.
3. Program and commercial assurance	The Defence Delivery Group, then the Agency from 1 July 2027.	"I need to know this project is on track, and be able to prove it."	A new buyer with about $35b to manage.^{[S68 · V]} Program support is one of KPMG's three top-scored capabilities in Section 3. A firm under three years of monitoring can show its own controls.^{[S05 · V]}	March 2027 at the earliest.
4. Digital, data and workforce change	Defence Digital Group. Defence People Group.	"Deliver what is already contracted, to scope."	KPMG's two largest recent client groups: $18.7m and $12.2m at award since FY2024-25.^{[S01 · V]}	Delivery now. New work from March 2027.

What not to market. Strategy advice, where McKinsey and BCG hold the top score. Cyber, where Accenture and Deloitte score higher. Engineering, which belongs to the MSP leads. Low-value support and ICT labour, where aggregators compete on price (Section 2).

6.3 Messaging: one sentence per audience, tied to what Defence has changed

The sentence to remember is "Fixed scope. Named team. Checked by someone else." For industry, the proposition is to help Australian suppliers that want Defence work get contract-ready before the tender opens. For Defence, from March 2027, it is to help program leaders who must show a project is on track get an answer they can defend.

Audience	What Defence policy has changed for them	The promise	Proof KPMG would need to show	Words to drop
Suppliers	Fewer, larger packages.^{[S01 · D]} SME-only rules below $125,000 on the MAS and People panels.^{[S60 · V]}	You bid with your security, pricing and evidence already checked.	Tender results of firms it prepared. Named clients, with consent.	"End-to-end". "Trusted adviser". "Ecosystem".
Investors	A rising budget and a record deal count.^{[S38, S102 · V]}	You know what the target's Defence revenue is worth before you price it.	Contract-level data on the target, from AusTender.	"Unlock value". "Synergies".
Defence, from March 2027	$4.2b of external labour savings.^{[S52 · V]} Variations above the trigger need senior sign-off.^{[S61 · V]}	One price for the whole scope. No growth above 50% without a new approach to market.	A published variation record. An independent probity check on each engagement. Finance's acceptance of the firm's reports.	"World-class". "Deep expertise". Any promise about the pause.

Sell the gain. "Win the tender" and "price the deal with confidence" beat cost saved. Defence is already cutting cost without advisers.

Where the message is weak. Kestrel scored a draft supplier page on a standard copy rubric: problem, promise, proof, proposition and product. It scored 71 of 120, with proof at 8 of 25. Estimated. There is no named client, no outside check and no price. Those come first.

6.4 Events: attend to listen until March, then choose two moments

Figure 15 All four Defence events before March fall inside the pause, so the first Defence-facing moment is mid-2027

Show the data as a table

Item	Date	Phase
MilCIS 2026	17 to 19 Nov 2026	Quiet
Undersea Defence Technology Australia	2 to 4 Dec 2026	Quiet
First quarterly report to Finance	by 29 Jan 2027	Quiet
ADM Congress	17 Feb 2027	Quiet
Avalon airshow	23 to 28 Feb 2027	Quiet
Earliest end of the pause	28 Feb 2027	Quiet
Budget	May 2027, expected	Re-enter
Defence Delivery Agency starts. Variation trigger falls to 50%	1 Jul 2027	Position
Defence + Industry conference	mid-2027, date not set	Position
MAS Panel expires	Sep 2027	Position
Indo Pacific 2027	2 to 4 Nov 2027	Position

Source: organiser and government event pages S147, S145, S140, S148, S146, with trade press S142, S141, S144. MilCIS dates are from an exhibitor listing S143, because the organiser gives the month only. Milestones from S05, S03, S68, S61 and S62. Accessed 14 Nov 2026. Phases are Kestrel's suggestion.

When	Event	A sensible role	Message	Line to hold
17 to 19 Nov 2026	MilCIS, Canberra. The organiser gives the month only. The dates are from an exhibitor listing.^{[S147, S143 · V]}	Delivery leads attend for existing digital clients.	Nothing new. Listen.	No stand. No sponsorship.
2 to 4 Dec 2026	Undersea Defence Technology Australia, Adelaide.^{[S142 · V]}	One supplier roundtable for firms entering the submarine supply chain.	Offer 1. "Be contract-ready."	Industry guests only.
17 Feb 2027	ADM Congress, Hyatt Hotel Canberra. It runs with AUKUS Pillar II and sustainment streams.^{[S145 · V]}	Two leaders attend. The sustainment and AUKUS streams suit Offer 1.	Nothing Defence-facing. It falls inside the pause.	No speaking slot. No sponsorship.
23 to 28 Feb 2027	Avalon airshow. Trade days start on 23 February.^{[S140, S141 · V]}	A readiness clinic for aerospace suppliers on the trade days.	Offers 1 and 2.	It is the last week of the pause. No Commonwealth selling.
May 2027, expected	Budget. The date is not announced.	Publish what the Budget means for suppliers within two days.	Series 2: what the data says.	Analysis only. No pitch.
Mid-2027, date not set	Defence + Industry conference, Canberra. It was held on 1 July in 2026.^{[S148 · V]}	The first Defence-facing presence, as delegates. Only if the pause has lifted in writing.	"Fixed scope. Named team. Checked by someone else."	No hospitality that breaches Defence's rules.
2 to 4 Nov 2027	Indo Pacific, ICC Sydney.^{[S146, S144 · V]}	The first sponsored presence, only after a clean first half-year back.	Offer 3, with a published variation record.	No claim that cannot be evidenced.

Trade press and think tanks. From March 2027, one article a quarter in the defence trade press, each built on contract data. No advertorial.

6.5 LinkedIn and thought leadership: three series, written by people

Series	Reader	Format and pace	Starts
1. Contract-ready	Suppliers and supply-chain leads.	One practical note a week from a named leader. A checklist twice a year.	Now.
2. What the data says	Suppliers, investors and trade press. Defence staff read it too.	One AusTender finding a fortnight. A full report twice a year.	Now.
3. Showing the work	Defence and Finance.	One post a quarter on how the firm now scopes, checks and varies Defence work. Facts already public.	After Finance accepts the second quarterly report.

Who posts. Three or four named leaders, twice a week between them. The firm page links to the reports and little else.
Who can be reached. Kestrel assumes, without a public measure, that many serving members and Defence officials do not list their employer on LinkedIn. That makes LinkedIn an industry channel. Defence is reached through events, trade press and delivery.
What to measure. Saves, forwards and replies. Senior readers read more than they react. This is a practitioner view and is not verified.
Paid support is a test, not an engine. The format to test is a sponsored post by a named leader, aimed at a list of 30 to 80 supplier and investor firms. Vendor data puts the median click on a sponsored personal post at US$2.29, against US$13.23 for a standard image ad.^{[S151 T3 · U]} At a reported median of US$110 a lead,^{[S152 T3 · U]} 150 leads cost about US$16,500. If one in five becomes a conversation, that is 30. Estimated. Events and content deserve the money first.

Three angles the data supports.

Angle	The data behind it	Who can say it
The contract that grows is over	Defence advisory contracts from FY2020-21 and FY2021-22 grew 1.64 times after signing.^{[S01 · D]} The variation trigger falls to 50% from 1 July 2027.^{[S61 · V]}	Any adviser. Suppliers need it now.
Defence halved its small contracts	Notices under $1m fell from 2,033 to 1,036. Notices of $5m or more rose from 29 to 54.^{[S01 · D]}	Any adviser. It speaks to SMEs.
First, then outside the top 14	KPMG's new Defence advisory value fell 79% before the pause began. Its FY2021-22 contracts grew 2.12 times after signing.^{[S01 · D]}	Only KPMG, and only once fixed scopes and outside checks are in place.

6.6 Measures and guardrails

Channel split. Events 40%, content and data 30%, paid distribution 10%, measurement 10%, contingency 10%. Estimated.

By	What to watch	A fair result
28 Feb 2027	Saves, forwards and replies per post, not likes. Target suppliers and investors at two roundtables.	15 qualified industry conversations. No breach of the pause terms.
30 Jun 2027	Requests for a briefing from Defence staff. Trade press pick-up of the data series.	40 qualified industry conversations and 12 proposals.
30 Jun 2028	Invitations to quote that were not chased. A published variation record.	New Defence contracts won at fixed scope, with growth after signing under 50%.

No Defence-facing selling until Finance confirms the lift in writing. If the pause is extended, Phase 1 continues and Phase 2 does not start.
Every published claim needs a source and a named approver. No client is named without written consent.
Nothing about the reform program goes out before Finance has accepted the report it rests on.
No post, event or advertisement should target a rival's staff.
Stop rule. A new conduct finding pauses every campaign on the day.

Appendix AMethodology

Research method

Five workstreams ran on 13 Nov 2026. The author ran the AusTender workstream with AI assistance. Four AI research agents ran panels, partnerships, people moves and policy drivers. Each returned an evidence table with source links. The author checked the decision-critical claims against a second source and wrote the synthesis. Only public information was used. No login or paid database was used.

AusTender method

Source: the public AusTender Open Contracting API, findByDates/contractPublished.^{[S01, S02 · V]} 4,505 pages were read with no errors.
Windows: FY2020-21, FY2021-22, FY2024-25, FY2025-26 and 1 July to 13 November 2026. A second pass read notices last modified from 16 June 2026 to measure changes during the KPMG pause.
Records: 159,042 releases for the three Defence entities, collapsed to 114,421 contract notices. Each notice keeps its value at publication and its latest amended value.
Limits: no panel or standing offer ID in the API. Subcontracts are not visible. Values include GST. Agencies can publish late or amend records. The ANAO found one Defence contract under-reported on AusTender by at least $109m.^{[S56 · V]}

Source tiers and confidence

Tier 1: government, Parliament, ANAO, company filings and official firm releases. Tier 2: named mastheads and trade press. Tier 3: blogs, aggregators and newsletters, flagged "T3" and treated as unverified unless corroborated. The AFR could not be read directly. AFR reports are cited through the outlet that relayed them. The Finance policy note of October 2026 blocks automated reading. Its terms were taken from a search extract of the page and matched to KPMG's response and news reports.

Frameworks applied

Five frameworks were chosen from the 93 listed at Useful Consulting Frameworks.^{[S116 T3 · V]}

Framework	Where applied	What it produced
SCQA	Executive summary	Situation, complication, question and answer on one page.
Issue Trees and MECE	Section 1	Four branches that structure the report.
PESTLE	Section 2	Six drivers with figures.
Porter's Five Forces	Section 2	Market attractiveness rating.
Scenario Planning	Section 4	Three scenarios with signposts.

Appendix BAssumptions log

#	Assumption or definition	Basis	Effect if wrong
1	Date is 13 November 2026. Year to date is 1 July to 13 November 2026.	Brief.	None.
2	Defence portfolio means the Department of Defence, the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Submarine Agency.	These are the entities that report Defence contracts on AusTender.	Defence Housing Australia and Veterans' Affairs are out of scope.
3	Financial year is set by the date a contract notice was first published.	Standard AusTender reporting practice.	Contracts signed late in a year can fall into the next.
4	Broad market codes: 80100000, 801015xx, 80161500, 801016xx, 84111500, 84111600.	Author's definition from the code mix (Section 2).	Catches some ICT managed services. Misses advisory work coded to engineering or ICT.
5	Six contracts of $100m or more are excluded from the adjusted broad market.	They are construction, shipbuilding or systems integration (Appendix D).	Raw totals are also shown.
6	Amendment values in the API are cumulative totals.	Checked against CN3892617: $35.65m after eight amendments, as the Canberra Times reported.	If wrong, current values are overstated.
7	Amendment uplift of 1.64 applies to recent cohorts.	Baseline cohorts: current value divided by value at publication.	New variation rules may lower it. Mature market size would fall.
8	Below-the-line advice equals 0.5% to 1.0% of acquisition and sustainment outlays.	Author's assumption. No public measure exists.	The estimate could be out by a factor of two either way.
9	Scenario growth rates of +4%, -8% and -15% a year. Probabilities of 20%, 50% and 30%.	Author's judgement, anchored on budgeted savings.	Changes the size of the prize, not the ranking of options.
10	Firm matching uses supplier names on AusTender (Appendix D lists them).	Name patterns checked by hand.	Joint ventures and subcontract work are not captured.
11	The capability heatmap and two scorecard criteria are judgements.	Category mix, largest contracts and firm pages.	Scores could move by one point.
12	The 18 firms are placed in three tiers by type, not by Defence revenue.	Author's judgement.	KBR is mid-tier by type but large by all-category value.

Appendix CSource register

Sources were accessed on 13 or 14 November 2026, as the last column shows. Tier 3 sources are flagged. Confidence labels sit beside each citation in the text.

ID	Source	Published	Tier	Link	Accessed
S01	AusTender OCDS API, contract notices published FY2020-21, FY2021-22, FY2024-25, FY2025-26 and 1 Jul to 13 Nov 2026 (own harvest of 4,505 pages; Department of Finance, CC BY 3.0 AU)	Harvested 13 Nov 2026	1	api.tenders.gov.au/ocds/findByDates/contractPublished/2025	13 Nov 2026
S02	AusTender OCDS API documentation (Department of Finance)	n.d.	1	github.com/austender/austender-ocds-api	13 Nov 2026
S03	Finance, Procurement Policy Note: Further update on procurement of goods and services from KPMG (read via search extract; page blocks automated reading)	23 Oct 2026	1	finance.gov.au/government/procurement/procurement-policy-n	13 Nov 2026
S04	Finance, Procurement Policy Note: Procurement of goods and services from KPMG	16 Jun 2026	1	finance.gov.au/government/procurement/procurement-policy-n	13 Nov 2026
S05	Finance, Response to the Independent Review of KPMG Australia	22 Oct 2026	1	finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-10/2026-Finance-re	13 Nov 2026
S07	KPMG Australia, Response to the Independent Review by Dr Ian Watt AC	22 Oct 2026	1	assets.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmgsites/au/pdf/2026/kpmg-res	13 Nov 2026
S08	KPMG Australia, FY26 result media release	24 Aug 2026	1	kpmg.com/au/en/media/media-releases/2026/08/fy26-result-st	13 Nov 2026
S10	ABC News, KPMG ban on government work extends to 2027	22 Oct 2026	2	abc.net.au/news/2026-10-22/audit-leaks-scandal-kpmg-ban-on	13 Nov 2026
S12	Reuters (via WSAU), KPMG Australia review findings	22 Oct 2026	2	wsau.com/?p=1028629	13 Nov 2026
S13	Reuters (via Times Live), KPMG Australia mishandled whistleblower claims, review finds	22 Oct 2026	2	timeslive.co.za/news/business/2026-10-22-kpmg-australia-mi	13 Nov 2026
S14	Reuters (via The Star), KPMG Australia to cut nearly 400 jobs	25 Aug 2026	2	thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2026/08/25/kpmg-aust	13 Nov 2026
S15	Canberra Times, The paper tiger ban: KPMG contract analysis (AusTender data)	22 Jun 2026	2	canberratimes.com.au/story/9294517/kpmg-contract-loophole-	13 Nov 2026
S16	Canberra Times, Defence gave KPMG $22m in contract extensions despite ban	22 Sep 2026	2	canberratimes.com.au/story/9354389/defence-gave-kpmg-22m-i	13 Nov 2026
S25	Canberra Times, Defence's changing of the guard as procurement takes centre stage	5 Oct 2026	2	canberratimes.com.au/story/9356744/defences-changing-of-th	13 Nov 2026
S26	International Accounting Bulletin (citing AFR), KPMG Australia to slash up to 400 more jobs	2 Nov 2026	2	internationalaccountingbulletin.com/news/kpmg-australia-to	13 Nov 2026
S27	HRD Australia (citing AFR), Up to 400 KPMG roles to be cut	Nov 2026	2	hcamag.com/au/specialisation/change-management/up-to-400-k	13 Nov 2026
S31	Accounting Times, PwC gets the green light to bid for new government work	11 Aug 2025	2	accountingtimes.com.au/profession/pwc-gets-the-green-light	13 Nov 2026
S32	Accounting Times (citing AFR), Deloitte to refund government after using AI in $440k report	Oct 2025	2	accountingtimes.com.au/technology/deloitte-to-refund-gover	13 Nov 2026
S34	Defence Connect, Defence retains full confidence in consultants despite overcharging reports	28 Feb 2024	2	defenceconnect.com.au/industry/13696-defence-retains-full-	13 Nov 2026
S37	WA Department of Treasury and Finance, Procurement of goods and services from KPMG	27 Oct 2026	1	wa.gov.au/organisation/department-of-treasury-and-finance/	13 Nov 2026
S38	Defence, Portfolio Budget Statements 2026-27	12 May 2026	1	defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-05/Part-2-2026-27-	13 Nov 2026
S39	Defence, Defence Support Services Panel page	n.d.	1	defence.gov.au/business-industry/procurement/contracting-w	13 Nov 2026
S41	Defence, Major Service Provider Agreement page	n.d.	1	defence.gov.au/business-industry/procurement/panel-arrange	13 Nov 2026
S43	Defence, Public Interest Certificates page (Defence Capability Support Panel, CD/RFT/27857/1)	24 Oct 2025	1	defence.gov.au/about/accessing-information/public-interest	13 Nov 2026
S44	Defence Science Institute newsletter, DCSP opportunity	28 Oct 2025	2	defencescienceinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSI	13 Nov 2026
S45	Defence, Defence Delivery Group page	n.d.	1	defence.gov.au/about/who-we-are/organisation-structure/def	13 Nov 2026
S46	Defence, Defence Infrastructure Panel page	n.d.	1	defence.gov.au/business-industry/procurement/panel-arrange	13 Nov 2026
S48	Defence ministers, Budget 2026-27 release	12 May 2026	1	minister.defence.gov.au/media-releases/2026-05-12/albanese	13 Nov 2026
S49	Budget Paper No. 4 2026-27, preface	12 May 2026	1	budget.gov.au/content/bp4/download/bp4_02_preface.pdf	13 Nov 2026
S50	ASPI, The Cost of Defence 2026-27	May 2026	2	aspi.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/20	13 Nov 2026
S51	ASPI Strategist, External workers behind only Army as Defence's second biggest branch	n.d.	2	aspistrategist.org.au/external-workers-behind-only-army-as	13 Nov 2026
S52	Strategic Analysis Australia, Defence Senate estimates 2026: 13 questions	28 May 2026	2	strategicanalysis.org/defence-senate-estimates-2026-13-que	13 Nov 2026
S53	ANAO, Effectiveness of the Strategic Commissioning Framework (performance audit)	2026	1	anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/effectiveness-of-the-st	13 Nov 2026
S54	ANAO, potential audit: Establishment and use of Defence's Major Service Provider Panel	n.d.	1	anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/establishment-and-use-o	13 Nov 2026
S56	ANAO Report No. 1 2026-27 (munitions contract)	Jul 2026	1	anao.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-07/Auditor-General_Re	13 Nov 2026
S58	Australian Government response to the Senate consulting services inquiry	23 Jan 2026	1	finance.gov.au/publications/government-responses/australia	13 Nov 2026
S60	Clayton Utz, Changes to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules	Oct 2025	2	claytonutz.com/insights/2025/october/changes-to-the-common	13 Nov 2026
S61	Finance, Procurement Policy Note: senior oversight of contract variations	2026	1	finance.gov.au/government/procurement/procurement-policy-n	13 Nov 2026
S62	Finance, Management Advisory Services Panel FAQ	n.d.	1	finance.gov.au/government/management-advisory-services-pan	13 Nov 2026
S63	Finance, People Panel Phase 3 user guide	Jun 2026	1	finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-06/pp3-user-guide_	13 Nov 2026
S64	Finance, People Panel Phase 3 transition guidance	May 2026	1	finance.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-05/Transition%20Gu	13 Nov 2026
S65	Finance, Conclusion of review into the ethical soundness of PwC Australia	2025	1	finance.gov.au/about-us/news/2025/conclusion-review-ethica	13 Nov 2026
S66	AwardedTenders, Defence Support Services panel analysis (private aggregator of AusTender data) Tier 3: unverified unless corroborated.	5 Feb 2026	3	awardedtenders.au/articles/market-insights/panel-defence-s	13 Nov 2026
S68	Australian Defence Magazine, Conroy provides update on new Defence Delivery Agency	26 Jun 2026	2	australiandefence.com.au/news/news/conroy-provides-update-	13 Nov 2026
S69	Australian Defence Magazine, KBR separates defence business	2026	2	australiandefence.com.au/news/news/kbr-separates-defence-b	13 Nov 2026
S70	Australian Defence Magazine, KordaMentha appoints new defence and national security leaders	29 Jan 2025	2	australiandefence.com.au/news/news/kordamentha-appoints-ne	13 Nov 2026
S72	KBR, spin-off information (Trinzic)	2026	1	investors.kbr.com/news-and-events/spin-off-information/def	13 Nov 2026
S73	KBR, press release on Major Service Provider contract (EY as key partner)	28 Feb 2018	1	kbr.com/en/insights-news/press-release/kbrwyle-signs-contr	13 Nov 2026
S74	BMT, Model26 launches to reshape Australian defence delivery	30 Jun 2026	1	bmt.org/news/2026/model26-launches-to-reshape-australian-d	13 Nov 2026
S75	Nova Systems, Team Nova page	2026	1	novasystems.com/au/our-supply-chain/explore-team-nova	13 Nov 2026
S76	Allegro Funds, completion of Scyne Advisory transaction	Nov 2023	1	allegrofunds.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Allegro-Fun	13 Nov 2026
S77	Consultancy.com.au, Scyne Advisory to cut around 100 roles	8 Apr 2025	2	consultancy.com.au/news/11039/scyne-advisory-to-cut-around	13 Nov 2026
S78	Consultancy.com.au, KordaMentha launches defence and national security practice	29 Jan 2025	2	consultancy.com.au/news/10588/kordamentha-launches-defence	13 Nov 2026
S79	Consultancy.com.au, Proximity joins Systems Planning and Analysis	Mar 2025	2	consultancy.com.au/news/10880/australian-consultancy-proxi	13 Nov 2026
S80	Consultancy.com.au, Coras joins AtkinsRealis	May 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12114/australian-defence-consultan	13 Nov 2026
S81	Consultancy.com.au, Synergy Group welcomes investor	Jun 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12208/synergy-group-welcomes-inves	13 Nov 2026
S82	Consultancy.com.au, Accenture buys CyberCX	Aug 2025	2	consultancy.com.au/news/11507/accenture-buys-australias-cy	13 Nov 2026
S83	Consultancy.com.au, Jacobs buys remaining PA Consulting shares	Jan 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/11666/jacobs-buys-remaining-pa-sha	13 Nov 2026
S84	Consultancy.com.au, KPMG strategy chief Dennis Krallis to lead Synergy Group	Sep 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12847/kpmg-strategy-chief-dennis-k	13 Nov 2026
S85	Consultancy.com.au, Scyne Advisory recruits Gergana Winzer	3 Nov 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12912/scyne-advisory-recruits-gerg	13 Nov 2026
S86	Consultancy.com.au, KordaMentha appoints partners in Canberra	20 Apr 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12060/kordamentha-appoints-anthony	13 Nov 2026
S87	Consultancy.com.au, Deloitte revenues reach $2.55 billion	Oct 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12742/deloitte-returns-to-growth-i	13 Nov 2026
S88	Consultancy.com.au, EY's Australian revenues down slightly to $2.7 billion	Oct 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12856/eys-australian-revenues-down	13 Nov 2026
S89	Consultancy.com.au, PwC acquires the Australian practice of Advancy	Oct 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12859/pwc-acquires-the-australian-	13 Nov 2026
S90	Consultancy.com.au, Nous Group appoints new principals	30 Sep 2025	2	consultancy.com.au/news/11537/nous-group-appoints-new-prin	13 Nov 2026
S92	Consultancy.com.au, KordaMentha expands risk advisory with senior hires	2 May 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12141/kordamentha-expands-risk-adv	13 Nov 2026
S95	EY Australia, FY26 revenue release	30 Sep 2026	1	ey.com/en_au/newsroom/2026/09/ey-australia-reports-2-67-bi	13 Nov 2026
S96	Deloitte Australia, Yamagigu Consulting release	2024	1	deloitte.com/au/en/about/press-room/new-chapter-for-austra	13 Nov 2026
S97	Deloitte Australia, Defence technical capabilities page	2026	1	deloitte.com/au/en/Industries/defence-security-justice/abo	13 Nov 2026
S98	HRD Australia (citing AFR), Deloitte to make 170 jobs redundant	Oct 2026	2	hcamag.com/au/specialisation/change-management/deloitte-to	13 Nov 2026
S99	Jacobs, completion of separation and merger with Amentum	27 Sep 2024	1	s205.q4cdn.com/384284279/files/doc_news/Jacobs-Advances-St	13 Nov 2026
S100	Amentum, joint venture selected for Australia nuclear submarine yard	23 Jul 2026	1	businesswire.com/news/home/20260723015342/en/Amentum-Joint	13 Nov 2026
S101	Tetra Tech, agreement to acquire Providence	14 Jan 2026	1	businesswire.com/news/home/20260114595907/en/Tetra-Tech-to	13 Nov 2026
S102	Mergermarket, Australian defence deals set to soar	5 Jun 2026	2	ionanalytics.com/insights/mergermarket/australian-defence-	13 Nov 2026
S103	Ngamuru Advisory, About page	2026	1	ngamuru.com/about	13 Nov 2026
S104	ABN Lookup, Ngamuru Advisory Pty Ltd	current	1	abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=27610399767	13 Nov 2026
S106	InnovationAus, Defence scrambles to block below-the-line bids	n.d.	2	innovationaus.com/defence-scrambles-to-block-below-the-lin	13 Nov 2026
S107	The Nightly, Kellie Parker appointed National Armaments Director designate	27 Oct 2026	2	thenightly.com.au/business/mining/rio-tinto-executive-kell	13 Nov 2026
S111	Region, Synergy Group secures major backing	Jun 2026	2	region.com.au/synergy-group-secures-major-vc-backing-to-bu	13 Nov 2026
S116	Useful Consulting Frameworks, framework index (93 frameworks) Tier 3: unverified unless corroborated.	n.d.	3	usefulconsultingframeworks.com/	13 Nov 2026
S118	KordaMentha, launch of Defence and National Security Practice (media release)	28 Jan 2025	1	kordamentha.com/insights/kordamentha-defence-national-secu	14 Nov 2026
S119	KordaMentha, Defence and National Security industry page and case-study page	2026	1	kordamentha.com/industries/defence-and-national-security	14 Nov 2026
S120	KordaMentha, Expression of interest: Defence and National Security (firm careers page; same advertisement on LinkedIn)	Nov 2026	1	jobs.smartrecruiters.com/KordaMentha/6000000000646035-expr	14 Nov 2026
S121	KordaMentha, Defence strategy faces a reality check in 2026 (firm article)	2026	1	kordamentha.com/knowledge-hub/defence-strategy-faces-a-rea	14 Nov 2026
S122	KordaMentha, partner profile: Mike Kalms	2026	1	kordamentha.com/people/mike-kalms	14 Nov 2026
S123	KordaMentha, partner profile: Joshua Rodgers	2026	1	kordamentha.com/people/joshua-rodgers	14 Nov 2026
S124	Defence Connect, KordaMentha announces defence specialist appointments for 2025	Jan 2025	2	defenceconnect.com.au/industry/15436-kordamentha-announces	14 Nov 2026
S129	Ngamuru Advisory, home page	2026	1	ngamuru.com/	14 Nov 2026
S130	Ngamuru Advisory, Work with us (panels)	2026	1	ngamuru.com/work-with-us	14 Nov 2026
S131	Ngamuru Advisory, Reconciliation page	2026	1	ngamuru.com/reconciliation	14 Nov 2026
S134	AusTender OCDS API, second pass: all Commonwealth entities, suppliers KordaMentha and Ngamuru, FY2024-25 to 13 Nov 2026 (own harvest, about 1,800 pages)	Harvested 14 Nov 2026	1	api.tenders.gov.au/ocds/findByDates/contractPublished/2024	14 Nov 2026
S135	Canberra Times, Defence cuts 948 contractor roles (Senate estimates)	5 Jun 2024	2	canberratimes.com.au/story/8652656/defence-cuts-948-contra	13 Nov 2026
S136	Accounting Times (citing AFR), KPMG Australia employees hop over to Deloitte	12 Nov 2026	2	accountingtimes.com.au/profession/kpmg-australia-employees	13 Nov 2026
S137	Accounting Times (citing AFR), Two more senior executives depart KPMG	12 Aug 2026	2	accountingtimes.com.au/profession/two-more-senior-executiv	13 Nov 2026
S138	Consultancy.com.au, Andrew Yates resigns as KPMG Australia chief	29 May 2026	2	consultancy.com.au/news/12205/andrew-yates-resigns-as-kpmg	13 Nov 2026
S139	Defence Connect, KBR and BMT forge partnership on Navy sustainment	19 Aug 2025	2	defenceconnect.com.au/naval/16654-kbr-bmt-forge-partnershi	13 Nov 2026
S140	Victorian Government, Avalon Australian International Airshow 2027 page	2026	1	defence.vic.gov.au/events/avalon-australian-international-	14 Nov 2026
S141	Australian Defence Magazine, Avalon Australian International Airshow returns in 2027	Mar 2026	2	australiandefence.com.au/defence/air/avalon-australian-int	14 Nov 2026
S142	Australian Defence Magazine, events calendar (Undersea Defence Technology Expo)	n.d.	2	australiandefence.com.au/yafevent/adm-congress2	14 Nov 2026
S143	Nokia, MilCIS 2026 event page (exhibitor listing; organiser page not read)	2026	2	nokia.com/events/milcis/	14 Nov 2026
S144	Global Defence Technology, Indo Pacific 2025 closes (confirms 2027 dates)	Dec 2025	2	defence.h5mag.com/global_defence_technology_dec25/event_in	14 Nov 2026
S145	ADM Events, ADM Congress page (organiser)	2026	2	admevents.com.au/adm-congress/	14 Nov 2026
S146	Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition, official site (organiser)	2026	2	indopacificexpo.com.au/	14 Nov 2026
S147	MilCIS, official site (organiser; gives the month only)	2026	2	milcis.com.au/	14 Nov 2026
S148	Defence, Defence + Industry Conference 2026 page	2026	1	defence.gov.au/business-industry/training-events/defence-i	14 Nov 2026
S149	Edelman, The hidden buyer (2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, with LinkedIn)	2025	2	edelman.com/insights/hidden-buyer-b2b	14 Nov 2026
S150	Demand Gen Report, Marketers need to gear content to hidden B2B buyers: Edelman/LinkedIn	8 Jul 2025	2	demandgenreport.com/?p=49901	14 Nov 2026
S151	Stackmatix, LinkedIn Ads Benchmarks 2026 (vendor blog citing ZenABM data) Tier 3: unverified unless corroborated.	2026	3	stackmatix.com/blog/linkedin-ads-benchmarks	14 Nov 2026
S152	Foundry CRO, LinkedIn Ads benchmarks by industry 2026 (vendor blog) Tier 3: unverified unless corroborated.	2026	3	foundrycro-marketing.pages.dev/blog/linkedin-ads-benchmark	14 Nov 2026

Appendix DAusTender data tables

All tables: own analysis of the AusTender API.^{[S01 · V]} Cells show notices / value at publication ($m) / current value ($m).

D1. Advisory and support (broad market) by firm

Firm	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Deloitte	43 / 73.7 / 104.0	72 / 75.0 / 111.1	41 / 77.5 / 119.0	20 / 43.7 / 53.2	6 / 16.7 / 17.4
EY	10 / 14.1 / 60.4	25 / 48.9 / 107.6	16 / 65.1 / 78.2	11 / 13.3 / 19.5	4 / 14.5 / 14.5
KPMG	112 / 102.4 / 177.3	105 / 114.4 / 242.7	39 / 49.3 / 78.0	32 / 22.6 / 20.8	3 / 6.4 / 6.4
PwC	62 / 48.5 / 62.1	61 / 58.4 / 81.5	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Accenture	8 / 118.4 / 168.7	12 / 17.5 / 88.4	10 / 92.8 / 142.3	5 / 49.0 / 68.4	2 / 23.6 / 23.6
McKinsey	4 / 5.8 / 6.6	2 / 6.5 / 6.5	2 / 10.7 / 13.9	3 / 1.4 / 1.4	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
BCG	1 / 3.2 / 20.5	4 / 10.8 / 10.8	5 / 9.5 / 31.7	3 / 3.7 / 5.7	2 / 5.5 / 5.5
Bain	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
KBR	19 / 12.8 / 21.2	17 / 8.2 / 14.7	3 / 2.1 / 1.9	6 / 14.7 / 15.1	2 / 24.5 / 24.7
Jacobs / Amentum	24 / 39.6 / 40.5	22 / 10.8 / 16.3	5 / 3.8 / 7.2	15 / 34.2 / 37.2	2 / 1.4 / 1.4
Nova Systems	24 / 9.1 / 9.7	42 / 33.5 / 52.1	10 / 5.8 / 10.7	15 / 12.5 / 19.9	7 / 4.5 / 4.5
Scyne	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	9 / 12.8 / 14.2	9 / 7.7 / 10.7	3 / 4.9 / 4.9
Synergy Group	40 / 31.5 / 64.9	49 / 55.7 / 106.0	11 / 14.4 / 22.4	15 / 11.6 / 11.1	3 / 1.7 / 1.7
KordaMentha	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
BDO	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	1 / 0.5 / 0.5	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	1 / 0.2 / 0.2
SME Gateway	79 / 37.8 / 60.7	131 / 82.8 / 137.7	60 / 47.7 / 66.5	74 / 52.4 / 70.6	33 / 27.9 / 27.3
ServeGate	20 / 9.0 / 15.8	48 / 35.2 / 57.4	49 / 37.6 / 49.3	70 / 55.1 / 61.8	27 / 17.4 / 17.3
Ngamuru	8 / 3.9 / 9.5	17 / 20.1 / 30.2	8 / 5.9 / 10.3	7 / 7.9 / 9.9	3 / 5.1 / 5.1

D2. All Defence categories by firm

Firm	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Deloitte	54 / 88.2 / 176.2	91 / 107.2 / 149.0	48 / 80.1 / 122.8	21 / 44.8 / 54.3	9 / 58.3 / 59.0
EY	22 / 20.6 / 74.5	34 / 65.2 / 135.2	20 / 79.4 / 106.8	11 / 13.3 / 19.5	4 / 14.5 / 14.5
KPMG	152 / 119.9 / 211.1	123 / 266.2 / 423.1	47 / 51.6 / 79.8	42 / 25.5 / 24.4	3 / 6.4 / 6.4
PwC	73 / 71.0 / 102.5	75 / 98.8 / 143.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
Accenture	14 / 127.4 / 199.9	21 / 43.4 / 177.5	10 / 92.8 / 142.3	6 / 60.3 / 79.7	3 / 38.2 / 38.2
McKinsey	5 / 5.8 / 6.6	4 / 16.3 / 34.5	10 / 11.8 / 14.0	5 / 2.4 / 2.4	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
BCG	3 / 3.5 / 20.8	4 / 10.8 / 10.8	6 / 10.5 / 33.9	3 / 3.7 / 5.7	2 / 5.5 / 5.5
Bain	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
KBR	53 / 161.3 / 919.3	79 / 70.6 / 167.9	11 / 92.5 / 293.2	16 / 473.6 / 591.0	5 / 27.4 / 27.5
Jacobs / Amentum	53 / 116.7 / 523.0	73 / 59.1 / 112.1	23 / 75.8 / 155.7	33 / 248.9 / 277.1	8 / 8.4 / 8.5
Nova Systems	47 / 42.2 / 382.4	47 / 39.3 / 58.4	19 / 60.3 / 114.0	24 / 13.8 / 21.3	9 / 11.3 / 11.3
Scyne	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	11 / 14.8 / 18.2	11 / 8.0 / 11.1	4 / 5.0 / 5.0
Synergy Group	54 / 41.2 / 85.3	55 / 58.1 / 111.7	16 / 17.3 / 27.3	18 / 16.0 / 14.3	6 / 4.0 / 4.0
KordaMentha	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0
BDO	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	2 / 0.5 / 0.5	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	0 / 0.0 / 0.0	1 / 0.2 / 0.2
SME Gateway	100 / 49.3 / 84.0	148 / 97.2 / 166.7	64 / 48.3 / 67.6	77 / 53.3 / 72.4	36 / 29.4 / 28.8
ServeGate	22 / 10.0 / 17.2	56 / 41.6 / 65.9	56 / 40.2 / 54.7	80 / 57.3 / 65.2	30 / 18.6 / 18.5
Ngamuru	8 / 3.9 / 9.5	17 / 20.1 / 30.2	9 / 5.9 / 10.4	7 / 7.9 / 9.9	3 / 5.1 / 5.1

D3. Largest contract notices by firm (filterable on the website)

Largest Defence contract notices for the profiled firms. Values in A$ million. Source: AusTender API, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified.

CN3879122	KPMG	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	110.09	112.96	1	Limited	Enterprise Information Management Systems Integration
CN3838245	KPMG	FY2021-22	Defence, DDG	21.38	27.20	3	Open	ICT Services
CN4109135	KPMG	FY2024-25	Defence, Air Force	5.63	21.69	5	Open	Project Support Services
CN3883929	KPMG	FY2021-22	Defence, SEG	4.21	19.86	8	Open	Management Support Services
CN3877166	KPMG	FY2021-22	Defence, DPG	13.09	18.22	2	Open	Change Management Support Services
CN3789270	KPMG	FY2021-22	Defence, SP&I	3.91	17.92	7	Open	Strategic Advisory Services
CN3723267	KPMG	FY2020-21	Defence, CIOG	7.78	16.97	2	Open	Strategic Resources
CN3723262	KPMG	FY2020-21	Defence, CIOG	6.21	15.04	3	Open	Management Support Services
CN3752775	KPMG	FY2020-21	Defence, Air Force	12.47	13.48	4	Open	Program Support Services
CN3790103	KPMG	FY2021-22	Signals Directorate, ASD	9.52	13.20	1	Open	Professional Services
CN4115560	KPMG	FY2024-25	Defence, DPG	11.10	12.83	3	Open	Implementation Program Services
CN3803716	KPMG	FY2021-22	Defence, DFG	4.07	12.30	12	Open	Contract Support Services
CN4266835	KPMG	FY2026-27 YTD	Defence, DDG	5.25	5.25	0	Open	Delivery Partner Support
CN3760681	Deloitte	FY2020-21	Signals Directorate, ASD	1.43	48.86	4	Limited	Enhanced Capability Implementation
CN3713547	Deloitte	FY2020-21	Defence, DFG	24.68	43.01	26	Open	Accounting Services
CN4286226	Deloitte	FY2026-27 YTD	Defence, DFG	41.11	41.11	0	Open	Budget, Taxation and Financial Services
CN3812183	Deloitte	FY2021-22	Defence, JCG	18.97	26.96	7	Open	Project Management Services
CN4090827	Deloitte	FY2024-25	Defence, JCG	15.23	22.00	2	Open	Project Management Services
CN4084757	Deloitte	FY2024-25	Defence, DPG	10.89	21.85	2	Open	Project Management Support Services
CN3879028	Deloitte	FY2021-22	Defence, NSSG	14.48	18.93	2	Limited	Strategic Business Services
CN3765777	PwC	FY2020-21	Defence, ADFHQ	9.39	23.64	5	Open	Program Management Implementation Team
CN3794965	PwC	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	6.41	19.21	10	Open	Project Services
CN3829955	PwC	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	13.16	13.16	0	Open	ICT Security Services
CN3880635	PwC	FY2021-22	Defence, Assoc Sec	10.32	11.37	1	Open	Program Management Services
CN3794876	PwC	FY2021-22	Defence, JCG	3.48	9.23	3	Open	Project Integration
CN3784601	PwC	FY2020-21	Defence, JCG	8.63	8.63	0	Open	Program Management Office Support
CN3800058	PwC	FY2021-22	Defence, DPG	3.15	8.40	3	Open	Data Sharing and Analytics Solution
CN3843272	EY	FY2021-22	Defence, DDG	28.39	84.69	5	Open	Organisational Change Management and Communications
CN4093907	EY	FY2024-25	Defence, DDG	51.77	51.77	0	Open	Change Management Services
CN3747028	EY	FY2020-21	Defence, JCG	2.54	34.57	14	Open	Security Resources
CN4112240	EY	FY2024-25	Defence, SEG	3.74	17.82	6	Open	Security Vetting Services
CN3877165	EY	FY2021-22	Defence, DPG	10.59	13.08	1	Open	Project Management Services
CN3782970	EY	FY2020-21	Defence, CIOG	5.11	11.71	6	Open	ICT Services
CN3800082	EY	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	10.40	10.91	1	Open	Strategic Planning Consultation Services
CN3814643	McKinsey	FY2021-22	Defence, Army	9.78	27.95	4	Open	Computer Services
CN4101355	McKinsey	FY2024-25	Submarine Agency, ASA	9.53	12.70	2	Open	Industrial Uplift Strategy Delivery Partner
CN3832314	McKinsey	FY2021-22	Defence, Air Force	6.44	6.44	0	Open	Management Support Services
CN3781969	McKinsey	FY2020-21	Defence, Air Force	2.08	2.08	0	Open	Project Review and Analysis
CN3764882	BCG	FY2020-21	Defence, NSSG	3.17	20.45	7	Open	Review and Support Services
CN4115468	BCG	FY2024-25	Submarine Agency, ASA	2.77	12.10	2	Open	Organisational Review Services
CN4125502	BCG	FY2024-25	Defence, ASSEC	3.19	6.59	2	Open	Development Support Services
CN4090855	BCG	FY2024-25	Defence, DDG	1.93	6.54	3	Open	Targeted design and implementation services
CN4110680	BCG	FY2024-25	Defence, DDG	1.35	6.02	1	Open	Performance, Culture and Commercial Consultancy
CN4270666	BCG	FY2026-27 YTD	Defence, DDG	5.01	5.01	0	Limited	Commercial and Advisory Support Services
CN3805758	BCG	FY2021-22	Defence, DFG	3.28	3.28	0	Open	Follow on Support
CN3809132	Ngamuru	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	11.69	11.69	0	Open	Commercial Assurance Services
CN4089244	Ngamuru	FY2024-25	Defence, DDG	3.51	7.03	1	Open	Project Support Services
CN4172608	Ngamuru	FY2025-26	Defence, DDG	5.13	6.52	1	Open	Business Advisory Services
CN3828053	Ngamuru	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	1.07	4.67	6	Open	Commercial Assurance Services
CN4259994	Ngamuru	FY2026-27 YTD	Submarine Agency, ASA	3.94	3.94	0	Open	Management Support Services
CN3869378	Ngamuru	FY2021-22	Defence, CASG	1.50	3.34	3	Open	Project Support Services
CN3744147	Ngamuru	FY2020-21	Defence, CIOG	0.90	3.09	3	Open	Information Management Services
CN4092969	Scyne	FY2024-25	Defence, DIG	4.67	5.19	1	Open	Capability Support
CN4150579	Scyne	FY2024-25	Defence, DIG	1.79	3.79	2	Open	Workflow and Change Management Specialist
CN4260841	Scyne	FY2026-27 YTD	Defence, DIG	3.71	3.71	0	Open	Project Support Services
CN4168281	Scyne	FY2025-26	Submarine Agency, ASA	1.96	3.46	1	Open	Management System Development Requirements
CN4127891	Scyne	FY2024-25	Defence, DIG	3.08	3.08	0	Open	Support Services
CN4180362	Scyne	FY2025-26	Defence, DIG	1.43	2.73	2	Open	Administrative Support Services
CN4085978	Scyne	FY2024-25	Defence, Navy	1.23	1.23	0	Open	Scoping Study
CN4170348	KBR	FY2025-26	Defence, CASG	324.76	440.12	1	Open	Engineering Services
CN3696990	KBR	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	30.49	340.41	22	Open	Engineering Support Services
CN3700670	KBR	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	26.10	267.74	22	Open	Project Support Services
CN4090834	KBR	FY2024-25	Defence, SEG	48.55	181.03	14	Open	Design Support Services
CN3753936	KBR	FY2020-21	Defence, JCG	35.16	148.06	16	Open	ICT Services
CN4184896	KBR	FY2025-26	Defence, CASG	133.56	135.21	1	Open	Software Support and Maintenance
CN3764815	KBR	FY2020-21	Defence, Navy	40.36	109.83	2	Open	Technical Training Support Services
CN3749665	Accenture	FY2020-21	Defence, DDG	114.22	164.06	11	Open	Project Management Support Services
CN3834297	Accenture	FY2021-22	Defence, SEG	11.54	79.96	5	Open	Service Connect Systems Integration
CN4125494	Accenture	FY2024-25	Defence, SEG	13.39	53.93	7	Open	Systems Integration Services
CN3801248	Accenture	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	11.57	43.78	10	Open	ICT Services
CN4189720	Accenture	FY2025-26	Defence, JCG	16.79	36.16	3	Open	Cloud Operation Services
CN4114516	Accenture	FY2024-25	Defence, DDG	27.74	27.74	0	Open	Sustainment Services
CN3815676	Accenture	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	4.97	22.85	2	Open	Technical Services
CN3711743	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	31.73	401.32	29	Open	Professional Service Providers
CN4084636	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2024-25	Defence, Army	40.03	107.93	13	Open	Contractor Support Services
CN3710013	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	31.73	31.73	0	Open	Service Providers
CN3737000	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	2.43	21.22	4	Open	Submarine Systems Engineering
CN3805726	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2021-22	Defence, SEG	4.31	20.80	7	Open	Construction and Maintenance Support Services
CN3780393	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2020-21	Defence, E&IG	15.68	18.33	1	Open	Construction and Support Services
CN4095611	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2024-25	Defence, SEG	10.65	12.30	3	Open	Design Services
CN3713165	Nova Systems	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	1.16	197.81	8	Open	Contractor Services
CN3697410	Nova Systems	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	14.19	117.40	10	Open	Integrated Work Partner
CN4132407	Nova Systems	FY2024-25	Defence, CASG	41.04	92.08	2	Open	Engineering Services
CN3737001	Nova Systems	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	1.68	24.50	3	Open	Submarine Systems Engineering
CN3852927	Nova Systems	FY2021-22	Defence, ADHQ	0.95	8.16	4	Open	Management Support Services
CN3700671	Nova Systems	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	7.18	7.23	1	Open	Major Service Provider Capability Partner Services
CN4272041	Nova Systems	FY2026-27 YTD	Defence, CASG	6.58	6.58	0	Open	Project Support Services
CN3835882	Synergy Group	FY2021-22	Defence, JCG	24.79	53.93	19	Open	Sustainment and Support Services
CN3785842	Synergy Group	FY2020-21	Defence, SEG	2.89	14.32	5	Open	Professional Support Services
CN3752736	Synergy Group	FY2020-21	Defence, CIOG	4.95	12.50	5	Open	ICT Support Services
CN3715729	Synergy Group	FY2020-21	Defence, CIOG	8.26	8.26	0	Open	Management Advisory Services
CN3829968	Synergy Group	FY2021-22	Defence, Army	3.00	7.93	2	Open	Management Advisory Services
CN3700659	Synergy Group	FY2020-21	Defence, CASG	5.50	7.32	1	Open	Quality Management System Operations
CN3811283	Synergy Group	FY2021-22	Defence, Army	3.34	7.10	4	Open	Portfolio Management Office Support
CN3830693	SME Gateway	FY2021-22	Defence, Army	9.43	17.56	2	Open	Strategic Communications Development and Graphics
CN4083614	SME Gateway	FY2024-25	Defence, Navy	13.00	13.37	1	Open	Project Management
CN3725987	SME Gateway	FY2020-21	Defence, Army	4.78	10.82	2	Open	Accelerating Future Ready Workforce Communications
CN4193122	SME Gateway	FY2025-26	Submarine Agency, ASA	2.84	10.79	4	Open	Project Support Services
CN3837002	SME Gateway	FY2021-22	Defence, JCG	4.69	9.49	1	Open	Business Support Services
CN3811285	SME Gateway	FY2021-22	Defence, DPG	10.41	8.75	1	Open	Strategic Communications
CN3853011	SME Gateway	FY2021-22	Defence, DDG	0.92	7.24	4	Open	Project Services
CN3812182	ServeGate	FY2021-22	Defence, JCG	6.53	13.30	5	Open	Strategic Advisory Services
CN4083622	ServeGate	FY2024-25	Defence, JOC	7.38	7.38	0	Open	Management Support Services
CN4182722	ServeGate	FY2025-26	Defence, Army	3.15	6.29	1	Open	Management Support Services
CN4185737	ServeGate	FY2025-26	Submarine Agency, ASA	3.89	3.89	0	Open	Program Management Support Services
CN3826672	ServeGate	FY2021-22	Defence, CIOG	3.70	3.70	0	Open	Program Support
CN4213970	ServeGate	FY2025-26	Submarine Agency, ASA	2.03	3.69	2	Open	Development Services
CN4254043	ServeGate	FY2025-26	Submarine Agency, ASA	3.57	3.57	0	Open	Project Management Services
CN3801231	Nous Group	FY2021-22	Defence, DPG	37.30	37.30	0	Open	Education and Training Services
CN4235622	Nous Group	FY2025-26	Defence, Navy	11.01	11.01	0	Open	Training Services
CN4205543	Jacobs / Amentum	FY2025-26	Defence, DDG	25.70	27.90	n/a	Open	Professional Services (supplier name Amentum Australia)

D4. KPMG Defence notices amended or published during the pause, 16 June to 13 November 2026

Net change on amended notices is $24.59m. Gross increases are $28.64m. The change is the last amendment less the one before it, so it is a floor where a notice changed more than once.^{[S01 · D]}

Notice	Amendment	Date	Before ($m)	After ($m)	Change ($m)	Description	Group
CN4109135	A5	2026-06-25	12.66	21.69	9.04	Project Support Services	Air Force
CN4141598	A1	2026-06-18	1.00	3.37	2.37	Capability Sustainment Budgets Review	DFG
CN3892617	A8	2026-09-21	30.15	35.65	5.49	Force Posture Initiative Strategic Partner	SP&I
CN3895875	A7	2026-09-21	13.71	17.85	4.14	Strategic Support Services	SP&I
CN3981663	A7	2026-09-21	25.99	29.36	3.37	Project Support Services	DDG
CN3877166	A2	2026-08-05	16.49	18.22	1.73	Change Management Support Services	DPG
CN4081761	A2	2026-08-19	1.85	2.75	0.90	Business Support Services	JCG
CN4175668	A1	2026-08-05	0.59	1.13	0.54	Specialised Project Support Services	Army
CN4100847	A2	2026-10-19	2.45	2.98	0.53	Technical Support Services	JCG
CN4182852	A4	2026-08-05	1.25	1.57	0.33	Project Support Services	Army
CN4266835	new	2026-08-05	0	5.25	5.25	Delivery Partner Support	DDG
CN4266834	new	2026-08-05	0	1.07	1.07	Project Management Support Services	Army
CN4211652	A1	2026-09-01	3.47	2.94	-0.53	Delivery Partner	DDG
CN4238589	A1	2026-08-11	1.28	0	-1.28	Cancelled	JCG
CN3942327	A5	2026-08-05	79.74	77.61	-2.13	Management Support Services	DDG

D5. Contracts excluded from the adjusted broad market

Notice	Year	Supplier	At publication ($m)	Current ($m)	Code	Description
CN3749665	FY2020-21	Accenture Australia	114.2	164.1	80161500	Project Management Support Services
CN3761573	FY2020-21	IBM Australia	127.6	210.8	80101507	System Integration Services
CN3865478	FY2021-22	Leidos Australia	329.7	406.3	80161500	Software Support Services
CN4115988	FY2024-25	Laing O'Rourke Australia PM	159.0	159.0	80101600	Infrastructure Services
CN4121359	FY2024-25	Riverina Redevelopment Joint Venture	921.4	920.4	80101604	Redevelopment Project Support Services
CN4190937	FY2025-26	Austal Defence Shipbuilding Australia	277.7	561.0	80101600	Management Support Services

D6. Leading suppliers by year

Year	Top suppliers in the adjusted broad market, value at publication ($m)
FY2020-21	1. KPMG 102.4; 2. Deloitte 73.7; 3. QinetiQ 68.2; 4. PwC 48.5; 5. Infosys 43.7; 6. Jacobs 39.6; 7. SME Gateway 37.8; 8. Whizdom 36.4; 9. Keane Consulting 32.6; 10. Synergy Group 31.5
FY2021-22	1. KPMG 114.4; 2. Cubic Defence 99.7; 3. DXC Technology 87.9; 4. SME Gateway 82.8; 5. Deloitte 75.0; 6. PwC 58.4; 7. Synergy Group 55.7; 8. Whizdom 50.0; 9. EY 48.9; 10. Insitec 43.6
FY2024-25	1. Accenture 92.8; 2. Deloitte 77.5; 3. EY 65.1; 4. KPMG 49.3; 5. Fujitsu 48.2; 6. SME Gateway 47.7; 7. IBM 45.3; 8. ServeGate 37.6; 9. DXC Technology 24.4; 10. Willyama 20.7
FY2025-26	1. Group 10 Consulting 90.3; 2. Unisys 85.1; 3. Kinetic IT 82.9; 4. IBM 78.6; 5. ServeGate 55.1; 6. Implementation Soft 53.7; 7. SME Gateway 52.4; 8. Accenture 49.0; 9. Deloitte 43.7; 10. Crown Management Consultants 34.4
FY2026-27 YTD	1. Kinetic IT 98.7; 2. Lockheed Martin 58.5; 3. Fujitsu 34.4; 4. Calytrix 32.5; 5. DXC Technology 31.6; 6. Whizdom 27.9; 7. SME Gateway 27.9; 8. Saunders International 26.1; 9. KBR 24.5; 10. Accenture 23.6

D7. Other large suppliers in the broad market, value at publication ($m)

Supplier (not profiled)	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Leidos Australia	18.5	332.8	9.7	14.4	3.7
IBM Australia	154.6	5.0	45.3	78.6	4.6
DXC Technology	9.5	129.4	24.4	18.8	31.6
Kinetic IT	0.0	0.0	0.0	82.9	98.7
Whizdom	36.4	50.0	14.1	15.0	27.9
QinetiQ	68.2	28.8	11.3	1.3	3.6
Cubic Defence	6.7	99.7	0.6	0.0	0.0
Fujitsu	0.4	4.3	48.2	16.2	34.4
Group 10 Consulting	0.4	0.1	0.0	90.3	0.0
Unisys	2.5	0.0	1.2	85.1	0.8
Keane Consulting	32.6	32.5	13.8	0.7	0.7
Omni Executive	11.6	35.5	7.7	17.6	7.5
Elysium EPL	13.5	13.3	16.8	10.1	22.8
Downer Professional Services	13.7	22.1	5.4	26.5	2.6
Crown Management Consultants	3.4	18.8	9.6	34.4	3.1
Talent International	18.5	19.1	19.4	5.5	3.3
Compas	6.9	12.3	15.4	16.9	10.8
Projects Assured	19.3	10.0	9.6	7.2	13.5
DMV Consulting	12.7	4.9	1.0	33.3	0.5
Aero PM	4.4	8.1	7.3	16.4	6.3
Sypaq Systems	6.3	8.0	8.9	5.9	7.8
Aurecon	4.9	11.5	6.1	9.9	2.5
Noetic Solutions	5.6	26.1	0.8	0.6	0.8
Coras Solutions	5.2	7.7	2.4	13.2	3.7
Capgemini	0.0	0.0	0.0	23.9	6.3

D8. Category mix and client groups by firm

Firm	Category mix, value at publication across the five periods ($m)	Largest Defence groups since FY2024-25 ($m)
Deloitte	Mgmt advisory 139.5, Mgmt support 134.9, Project mgmt 12.2, ICT 4.9, Other 87.1	DFG 41.3, JCG 31.9, NSSG 27.5, DDG 17.6
EY	Mgmt support 98.2, Mgmt advisory 57.6, ICT 11.2, Other 25.8	DDG 87.3, SEG 5.3, ASSEC 4.8, JCG 3.4
KPMG	Mgmt advisory 169.8, Mgmt support 105.2, ICT 14.5, Project mgmt 11.1, Other 169.0	DDG 18.7, DPG 12.2, Air Force 9.9, JCG 7.3
PwC	Mgmt advisory 95.1, ICT 9.9, Project mgmt 7.5, Mgmt support 3.7, Other 53.6	none
Accenture	Mgmt support 242.0, ICT 62.5, Mgmt advisory 8.6, Other 49.0	DDG 106.4, JCG 32.2, SEG 28.3, ASA 14.6
McKinsey	Mgmt advisory 24.4, ICT 9.8, Training 2.2, Mgmt support 0.1	ASA 9.5, DFG 2.0, DDG 1.4, GWEO 1.2
BCG	Mgmt advisory 25.9, Mgmt support 6.8, ICT 1.3	DDG 11.7, ASSEC 4.3, ASA 2.8, DFG 0.9
KBR	Engineering 468.4, Training 46.3, Mgmt support 45.6, ICT 35.4, Mgmt advisory 15.3, Project mgmt 1.5, Other 212.9	CASG 472.2, NSSG 61.1, SEG 51.4, GWEO 4.2
Jacobs / Amentum	Engineering 99.7, Mgmt advisory 47.9, Mgmt support 1.6, Project mgmt 1.3, Other 132.4	SEG 65.4, Army 40.1
Nova Systems	Engineering 81.6, Mgmt advisory 32.6, Mgmt support 31.2, Other 21.5	CASG 48.4, NSSG 11.7, Navy 7.4, VCDF 4.7
Scyne	Mgmt support 21.1, Mgmt advisory 3.0, ICT 0.8, Project mgmt 0.4, Other 2.5	DIG 19.9, SEG 2.5, Navy 2.4, ASA 2.0
Synergy Group	Mgmt advisory 62.3, Mgmt support 51.9, ICT 6.6, Other 15.6	Army 7.0, DSTG 6.0, ASA 5.2, JCG 5.0
SME Gateway	Mgmt support 167.9, Mgmt advisory 75.7, ICT 7.1, Project mgmt 3.6, Other 23.2	Army 32.8, JCG 26.2, Navy 18.1, ASA 10.5
ServeGate	Mgmt support 117.7, Mgmt advisory 34.3, ICT 2.8, Other 12.9	Army 35.1, ASA 23.2, JOC 14.6, CASG 12.3
Ngamuru	Mgmt advisory 25.4, Mgmt support 17.4	DDG 9.4, ASA 6.8, CASG 0.9

D9. Supplier names matched

Firm	Supplier names matched on AusTender
Deloitte	Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu; Deloitte; Deloitte Consulting; Deloitte Risk Advisory
EY	Ernst & Young; Ernst & Young Consulting; EY Digital
KPMG	KPMG Australia; KPMG; KPMG Australia Technology Solutions; KPMG Australia Engineering Consulting; KPMG Chartertech
PwC	PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting (Australia); PricewaterhouseCoopers; PwC Consulting; PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal; PwC Strategy&
Accenture	Accenture Australia Pty Ltd; Accenture Australia Holdings
McKinsey	McKinsey Pacific Rim Inc
BCG	Boston Consulting Group
Bain	no supplier name containing Bain found
KBR	Kellogg Brown & Root Pty Ltd; Conscia and KBR joint venture
Jacobs / Amentum	Jacobs Group (Australia); Jacobs Australia; Jacobs Radio (Australia); Jacobs SKM; Amentum Australia Proprietary Limited (same ABN 12079749287 as Jacobs Australia)
Nova Systems	Nova Systems Australia; Nova Systems; Nova Systems Design
Scyne	Scyne Advisory Pty Ltd
Synergy Group	Synergy Group Australia; Synergy Group Opco
KordaMentha	no supplier name containing KordaMentha found
BDO	BDO Services Pty Ltd (other BDO-named suppliers excluded as unrelated)
SME Gateway	SME Gateway Pty Ltd
ServeGate	ServeGate Australia Pty Ltd
Ngamuru	Ngamuru Advisory Pty Ltd

Appendix EKordaMentha has built a Defence practice with no direct Defence contract

This profile uses the firm's own pages, trade press and AusTender. Sources were accessed on 14 November 2026.

What AusTender shows

No Defence contract notice names KordaMentha in any of the five periods.^{[S01 · V]} Across all Commonwealth entities it has 38 notices worth $5.3m at publication since July 2024. None is with Defence.^{[S134 · V]}

Largest: a Services Australia resourcing review ($0.98m, now $1.52m) and a financial assessment for the Infrastructure department ($1.00m). Mostly forensics, valuations and reviews.
KordaMentha, all Commonwealth entities	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Contract notices	17	17	4
Value at publication ($m)	3.13	1.74	0.45
Current value ($m)	3.80	1.80	0.48
Of which Defence entities	0	0	0

The firm is hiring for Defence in four cities and says its clients include industry.^{[S120 · V]} AusTender shows only direct Commonwealth contracts. It does not show work for industry, investors or state governments, or work done as a subcontractor. This report cannot measure those.

Profile

Topic	What public sources show
Launch and leaders	The Defence and National Security practice launched on 28 January 2025. Mike Kalms and Joshua Rodgers, both former KPMG partners, lead it.^{[S118, S78 · V]}
Positioning	Australian-owned, with no audit or tax arm.^{[S124 · V]} At launch the practice lead described it as "the opposite of land and expand".^{[S124 · V]}
Clients	The firm says the team serves government and industry clients.^{[S120 · V]} At launch it said it would work across the entire supply base.^{[S124 · V]} Partner profiles list work for defence industry and for state governments.^{[S122, S123 · V]}
Offer	Asset optimisation, supply chain and sustainment, and program delivery.^{[S119 · V]} Its job advertisement adds estate and infrastructure, commercial advice and integrated logistics support.^{[S120 · V]}
Policy stance	A firm article argues for a tiered MSP panel so that SMEs get a fair share, and for local content rules in sustainment.^{[S121 · V]}
Hiring	An expression of interest for Defence and National Security is open in Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and Sydney. It invites individuals and teams, and cites an expanding pipeline.^{[S120 · V]} The Canberra office has five partners and directors.^{[S86 · V]}
Panels	On the Management Advisory Services Panel. Not in an MSP consortium (Figure 8).

Signposts. A first direct Defence contract notice. A place on the Defence Capability Support Panel. A published industry or investor credential.

Appendix FNgamuru is a 40-adviser commercial specialist that wins small, fixed-scope contracts

Position in Defence

Ngamuru has 44 Defence contract notices in the five periods, worth $42.8m at publication and $65.0m now.^{[S01 · V]} The median notice is $0.40m. 36 of 44 are under $1m, and all but 3 were let by open tender, which in this market usually means a panel.^{[S01 · D]} The Chief Information Officer Group and its successor, the Defence Digital Group, account for $27.2m, or 64%.^{[S01 · D]}

Figure 16 Ngamuru's Defence work peaked in FY2021-22 and is now shifting to the Submarine Agency

Show the data as a table

Buyer	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Department of Defence	3.9	20.0	5.6	5.4	1.1
Australian Submarine Agency	0.0	0.0	0.3	2.5	3.9

Source: own analysis of AusTender OCDS API S01, accessed 13 Nov 2026. Verified.

Ngamuru Advisory	FY2020-21	FY2021-22	FY2024-25	FY2025-26	FY2026-27 YTD
Defence notices	8	17	9	7	3
Defence value at publication ($m)	3.91	20.04	5.90	7.93	5.06
Defence current value ($m)	9.46	30.22	10.38	9.92	5.06
All Commonwealth value at publication ($m)	not harvested	not harvested	5.98	20.97	5.49
Of which outside Defence ($m)	not harvested	not harvested	0.08	13.04	0.43

Source: own AusTender analysis. Defence rows from the main harvest ^{[S01 · V]}. All-Commonwealth rows from a second pass on 14 November 2026 covering FY2024-25 onward ^{[S134 · V]}.

Two shifts stand out. First, the Submarine Agency supplied $6.49m of $12.99m in Defence value since July 2025, or 50%.^{[S01 · D]} Second, its largest contract is not in Defence. The Industry department let a $12.96m contract in July 2025 for advice on decommissioning oil and gas facilities. It is now worth $16.32m.^{[S134 · V]}

Its Defence contracts grew 1.52 times after signing, well below the 1.64 average for the market's baseline cohorts.^{[S01 · D]}

Profile

Topic	What public sources show
Origin and ownership	Established in 2016.^{[S131 · V]} A private company led by Harry Dunstall, managing director.^{[S103, S104 · V]} The firm states it is "not an Aboriginal-owned business". Its name was gifted after consultation with an Indigenous-owned cultural consultancy and Elders.^{[S131 · V]}
Reconciliation	Completed its first Reflect action plan in 2024-25. Working toward an Innovate plan for 2026-27.^{[S131 · V]}
People	More than 40 advisers. Leaders include a former Defence assistant secretary who wrote a book on performance-based contracts.^{[S103 · V]}
Services	Procurement and probity, contract management, negotiation, financial advisory and AI advisory.^{[S129 · V]} It calls itself an "independent sovereign adviser" to government.^{[S103 · V]}
Panels	Management Advisory Services, People Panel Phase 3, Digital Marketplace Panel 2, the AFP capability support panel, a DFAT probity panel, and ACT, Victorian and Queensland panels.^{[S130 · V]}
Offices	Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane.^{[S129 · V]}

Signposts. A second large contract outside Defence. Further growth at the Submarine Agency. Any change of ownership.