That’s not the problem. The problem is that the “free” work is absolutely not free. You pay in several ways: giving them data, giving them knowledge of how you approach data and analytics problem solving for your organization, giving political connections and sunk cost hooks for them to gain a future contract.

And worst of all, reputation laundering. They can brag about “charitable” work for a prestigious client, and try to whitewash the reality of how utterly deplorable and morally sickening they are.