TAFE New South Wales has rejected criticism from the Greens over a $90,000 report it commissioned on its rivals.

Key points: Australian Careers Network investigated over alleged fraud

Australian Careers Network investigated over alleged fraud Greens say ACN should not be held up as example

Greens say ACN should not be held up as example TAFE says changes forced it to be competitive

The report, undertaken by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), contains references to the Australian Careers Network (ACN), a private college which was raided by federal police in April over alleged fraud.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said ACN should not be held up as any kind of example for efficiency when it is the subject of such serious allegations.

"We should be asking the Boston Consulting Group to repay the taxpayers this $90,000," he said.

Managing director for TAFE NSW Jon Black defended the report which warned TAFE must become more efficient or risk lagging behind.

"The detail in the report that is specific about ACN is only about relative investment in capital - it is not about performance," he said.

"Indeed the report explicitly states that ACN is not to be used as a benchmark."

Mr Black said changes introduced by the Commonwealth had left TAFE NSW to compete with private colleges and the report compared TAFE's use of money to its rivals.

"TAFE spends about $2 billion a year on public money," the managing director said.

"It is absolutely critical that we get the best information to inform this organisation so we can set up for continued success in the market."

Report 'completion date' before AFP raids

The front page of the report dates the document as 2015, suggesting it was completed before ACN was raided by federal police.

Mr Black said he did not know why BCG did that, adding he received the report in April 2016.

But Mr Shoebridge said he believed BCG backdated the document to avoid being criticised.

"When Boston Consulting were facing criticism for including a particularly dodgy private provider called ACN as a comparative for TAFE they responded by saying the report was written in 2015 which was before the ACN was raided by federal police," he said.

"We now know that response was untrue."

A statement from BCG said the report had been delivered before the Australian Federal Police raids.

"The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was engaged by TAFE NSW in January 2015 to analyse the vocational education and training (VET) market in NSW," the statement said.

"In March 2016, TAFE asked us to prepare for public release a summary of the analysis from this work, which we did.

"This summary did not include information on any developments in the sector after 2015.

"This report was delivered to TAFE NSW on April 6, 2016, before the police raids on the ACN on 12 April 2016."