It is a truth universally acknowledged that a public servant in possession of a good budget must be in want of a consultant. This is so well fixed that it doesn’t matter if that consultant is embroiled in a crisis of trust and misconduct so deep that the government has banned new contracts with it.So said our bastardised Jane Austen about the 1800s marriage market, and so says the Department of Defence. On June 16, it signed off on a shiny $9 million deal with KPMG for “project support services”. Even though just the day before, on June 15, the federal government barred KPMG from bidding for new work for at least three months while the Finance Department investigates the firm.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles