About 8 years ago, I was working in Novawind and running several projects simultaneously - acquiring wind turbine manufacturing technology, rolling out the production of wind turbines, and developing wind farms. Given that this was the first time wind turbine manufacturing and wind farm development was done at a scale in Russia, I pitched my boss the idea of hiring consultants. He didn’t see a point but allowed me to continue.
I had in mind several tasks for consultants. First, as usual, I needed consultants to review our strategy. I didn’t need their review per se, but I needed the stamp of a major consultancy on my strategy, so it would have more weight in the investment committee meeting. Second, I needed access to experienced people from the wind industry - engineers, supply chain, and factory managers. We didn’t know much about running a wind turbine manufacturing company then, and desperately needed advice. Third, I was about to manage a Russian and a Dutch team and ensure they worked well together. So I decided I needed a mixed Russian-Dutch consulting team. Finally, as our company was a part of Rosatom, a state nuclear energy company, I needed consultants with experience in complex project management with large Russian state corporations.
My ToR reflected these needs pretty well. I wanted a Russian-Dutch team, with experience in managing $1Bn+ infrastructure project for a Russian state corporation, and access to at least three professionals from the wind industry with 20+ years of experience. The task included organizing project management, team integration, consulting on factory roll-out and supply chain organization, and, of course, strategy stamping review.
Soon, I had a score of top consultancies to choose from. KPMG, EY, AT Kearny, and McKinsey, all submitted bids. These ranged from $ 300,000 to almost $2M. Now, the rule of dumb thumb of Rosatoms’ procurement is to go for the lowest bidder. I couldn’t afford that, as the lowest bidders matched max two of my criteria. The highest bidders also couldn’t match all criteria, especially in fielding needed industry experts. And then there was a mid-range bid from Roland Berger.
I knew I couldn’t just award RB the contract, as it would go against all corporate rules. So I went to my boss with these arguments. First, they have experts with 20+ years of hands-on experience in wind turbine manufacturing. Second, they are ready to assemble a Russian-Dutch team to help us coordinate cross-cultural communication. Third, they are already working for Gazprom on the South Stream project, so they know well what it is like to work with a Russian state-owned company and run a $1Bn+ project.
I visited Roland Beregers’ Moscow office shortly before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By that time, they were on their third or fourth contract with Novawind. The Russian-Dutch cooperation mechanisms, project management and reporting techniques, and much more were established and polished over the 5 years since we first hired Roland Berger. My former management saw the added value of not-so-cheap consultants and continued hiring them for new projects without my insistence.
Two months later RB closed all its Russian operations and moved the team abroad.