Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) provides world-class performance improvement, turnaround management and corporate restructuring services, as well as multi-disciplinary industry expertise, to clients in both the public and private sectors. Our culture is based on an unwavering set of core values: “Never let financial gain compromise integrity and demand integrity of ourselves above all.” We embody this value in every action the firm takes.
A&M provides global leadership, problem solving and value creation for companies across industries and around the world through a cooperative contract with OMNIA Partners.
Producing Results. Implementing Change.
- Drive financial, budget and process improvements
- Support efficient and effective management of government, non-profit and education organizations and programs
- Maximize financial, human capital and other resources to transform programs and institute fiscal control
Whether the mission involves creating a government efficiency initiative, redesigning an ineffective Medicaid system, or reevaluating a school’s budget to fully leverage its resources, A&M brings a sense of urgency to every situation, a pragmatic, hands-on approach and a relentless focus on execution, accountability and results. Our services enable government entities, organizations and leaders to solve complex problems, to improve performance, to maximize value for citizens and to produce a social impact.
How we are different:
- Delivery approach effectively combining public and private sector experience
- Depth of knowledge that enables us to recommend best practices used in other jurisdictions
- Ability to support our clients’ efforts publicly, with an understanding of political and regulatory issues including testifying in front of legislatures, councils, and boards
- Reputation for solving the most complex problems and managing the most challenging situations, from insolvencies to natural disasters
- Adept at building internal capacity and supporting cultural change
Solutions
A&M’s work as a public sector consultant includes 13 states, multiple cities, school districts and universities. We have helped government officials better serve their constituents by streamlining operations, managing their budgets effectively and improving performance – finding ways to accomplish their mission while being prudent stewards of taxpayers’ money.
Performing budgetary and operational reviews, designed to help government agencies function more effectively and efficiently.
Serving in interim management or crisis management roles providing short-term leadership.
Providing actionable recommendations, designing detailed implementation plans and working side-by-side with client personnel to put those plans into effect.
Identifying and implementing significant and immediate cost savings for entities which are facing fiscal crises, while building consensus and support among stakeholders.
Assessing operations to find cross-agency efficiencies and economies of scale.
Maximizing federal funding, enhancing compliance, and identifying opportunities for improving non-tax revenues.
Providing expertise across diverse governmental functions, ranging from benefits to transportation to healthcare to public safety.
Driving awareness of the voice of student to realign university investments.
Standing behind our recommendations in public when the situation calls for it, before legislative bodies or in the media.
Services
Operational Efficiency and Effectiveness
- Organizational design and human capital management
- Process improvement
- Cost reductions, often while maintaining or enhancing services
- IT effectiveness and costs
- Performance measurement and benchmarking against national models
- Project and risk management
- Shared services (HR, Finance, IT)
- Facilities management and efficiency
- Audit response and remediation
- Internal control assessment
Constituent/Stakeholder (Customer) Focused Transformation
- Efficient and effective service delivery models
- Change management
- Communications and stakeholder engagement
- Service catalog analysis and development
Revenue Maximization
- Non-tax revenue, including federal funds, advertising revenues and various fees
- Benchmarking against other states, municipalities and agencies
- Tax process reform to ensure collections are being maximized
Financial Management
- Financial planning and budget operations
- Billing and collection process improvement
- Federal funds management
- Development and implementation of innovative resource allocation models
Capital Investment and Economic Development
- Economic impact analysis
- Public/private partnerships
- Capital advisory and capital investment
- Debt instruments and refinancing
- Funds management
Strategic Sourcing
- Procurement
- Employee spend analysis
- Healthcare and benefits
- Accountability and incentive structure
- Privatization and outsourcing
Leadership and Interim Management
- Interim management of key functions or departments
- Governance and policy development
- Strategic planning and organizational design
- Crisis management
Facilities Management & P3
Alvarez & Marsal partners with public and institutional leaders to leverage value from and increase the useful life of real estate assets. A&M offers a full range of real estate services, providing customized solutions that address your unique fiscal and operational needs.
Public entities and institutions face a unique set of real estate challenges. Capital and operating budget limitations often inhibit adequate maintenance, renovation and expansion of needed facilities, eventually hindering core business operations. However, many of these underutilized assets have significant market value, which can be leveraged to fund facility improvements and expansions, promote economic development and job creation, and generate revenue.
Case Histories
State of Louisiana
In its seventh year in office and already having undertaken multiple cost-savings initiatives, Governor Jindal’s administration retained A&M for a government efficiency initiative covering multiple state agencies. Over a four month period, A&M worked with each of those agencies and built consensus around dozens of recommendations, implementation of which could begin immediately, and which will realize more than $500 million a year in cost savings and non-tax revenue enhancements. Agencies included in this project included Revenue, Economic Development, Risk Management, Transportation, Public Safety & Corrections, Health & Hospitals, Children and Family Services, Facilities, Group Benefits and Procurement.
Cities
Facing budget pressure, a City was looking for ways to meet citizens’ service needs and support operations, all while balancing the budget. Analysis by the City’s Finance department discovered that a significant source of unrealized revenue was being lost to business permit non-compliance. A&M was engaged to help address the revenue leakage through improved permit compliance identification techniques, coupled with application of lean initiatives to increase the permitting capacity within the current cost structure. By applying lean techniques across multiple departments and developing Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) with third-party collection agencies, the City’s collections/revenue has increased by over $20MM annually.
School Districts
A&M was instrumental in the recovery of the New Orleans public school system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, served as interim management for the St. Louis Public Schools, formed a restructuring team for the New York City schools that reallocated $200 million a year from central administration into classrooms, and held significant advisory positions with school systems in Washington, DC and Detroit.
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
A&M executed a broad scale effort to shore up the Commonwealth’s finances, identifying $1.7 billion a year in recurring savings and non-tax revenue enhancements. A&M was appointed by a U.S. territorial government in the midst of a series of downgrades by major bond rating agencies and a highly-charged political environment. After taking on interim management roles, we realized the budget deficit was actually five times larger than previously thought. Our team included professionals with experience in healthcare, tax, education and public safety who were able to set the government on a course to close a $1 billion gap over two to three years.
Health & Human Services
Facing cost overruns in its Medicaid system of nearly $1.8 billion over a five year period, a State Department of Health & Human Services retained A&M and asked us to serve in Interim CFO, Budget Director, and Program Integrity Director positions. We redesigned an outdated organizational structure, gained transparency into key expenditure drivers and built a forecasting model that would allow for accurate budgeting and restore the agency’s credibility. The last year-end close showed a $63 million surplus for the agency.
Insurance
A&M identified how a state Office of Risk Management could save $21 million a year by changing its process for procuring insurance on state-owned properties by attracting more bidders and increasing competition.
Procurement
By implementing a strategic sourcing initiative for all procurement across various agencies, A&M estimated cost savings for its client would be in excess of $60 million a year.