An audit by the General Auditing Bureau revealed that the entities subject to its oversight had expanded their involvement in numerous consulting contracts over the past several fiscal years, with the total contract value reaching approximately 12 billion riyals for contracts providing consulting services in the areas of training, employment, and information technology, as well as other contracts during the past fiscal year 1437–36. The Bureau considered this a violation of the Royal Decree mandating a reduction in reliance on consulting firms, The Bureau also noted that a number of government institutions continue to assign certain consultants to perform leadership roles, even though they were contracted solely for consulting services, which is a violation of the regulations governing employees and staff of the General Organization for Social Insurance, which restrict such assignments to the organization’s own employees.

The Bureau believes there has been an unjustified increase in government spending on consulting firms. The Bureau highlighted the phenomenon of several government agencies continuing to contract with firms merely to recruit and supply personnel to the agency, while these employees remain under the firm’s employment and are paid by it, noting that this directly affects citizens’ ability to fill these positions, as they remain occupied by foreigners through such firms, and emphasizing that this costs the state large sums of money that are not commensurate with the work these employees provide.