This is Big 4 consulting at it's finest. I saw Accenture and McKinsey fleece a lot of big companies and government agencies with these tactics. Some were downright underhanded and deceitful.

There is also a world of actual expert consulting. I worked in this space for a long time and while we definitely sniffed for opportunities to increase our scope we mostly did it by building reputation and delivering exceptional work. It's really, really hard to tell the difference from a pitch though.