Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's pet public service project, the Digital Transformation Agency, has spent more than $18 million hiring temporary workers and contractors in its less than 18 months' existence.

Other taxpayer-funded spending by the micro-agency includes $1 million for five months of "agile coaching" by a private sector outfit Pragmateam, $43,000 on whiteboards and hundreds of thousands of dollars on public relations.

Former head of the Digital Transformation Agency, Paul Shetler.

The project's first leader, UK-import Paul Shetler walked away from his job in November saying the Australian Public Service must wean itself off the "eye-watering" expense of hiring contractors and temps to undertake its IT projects.

Contracts publicly notified on the federal procurement website AusTender show that much of the DTA's spending since it was established in July 2015 has been on contractors and temporary staff including $125,000 paid to recruitment outfit Hudson to provide a personal assistant for 12 months.