questioned why the government was “relying on third parties to make critical policy decisions”.

Seriously? Don’t you understand how consulting works? You ring your mate working at the consultant. You tell him the decision you want. Then they go away and make up the reasoning/rationale, including, but not limited to, figures taken from crazy spreadsheet models based on wild assumptions that live in alternate universes.

Then you say “Oh, we paid $1 gazillion for this independent report. I’m not sure I agree with it, but I guess we’ll have to follow it’s recommendation”.