Goa terminates strategic project with BCG for 'unmet expectations'

The Goa government has terminated a top-level project with Boston Consulting Group, stating that the strategy consulting firm failed to deliver on expectations.

India’s smallest state by area and fourth-smallest by population, Goa in March this year hired Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to support the development of its Viksit Goa 2047 strategy. The state picked BCG after the central government selected BCG as its consulting partner for India’s national Vision 2047 blueprint.

Viksit Goa spans a number of long-term objectives, including enhancing connectivity, establishing Goa as a logistics hub, developing the region’s infrastructure such as an international airport, roads, water treatment, and waste management, growing foreign investments, and expanding the tourism sector.

Following a review of Boston Consulting Group’s work and deliverables over the past five months, the Goa government has now pulled the plug from the contract.

According to a statement, issued by Vijay Saxena, Director of Planning, Statistics and Evaluation at the Indian government, “Boston Consulting Group has not been consistent with expectations and deliverables mentioned in the work order dated 14 March.”

As per the work order, Boston Consulting Group had not “properly assessed Goa’s unique strengths, constraints and opportunities for the future”. The high-profile consulting firm had also not fully identified the “15 high impact priority areas” for the state, and to make matters worse, not submitted the first version of the Viksit Goa 2047 report on time.

The news will come as a major blow for Boston Consulting Group in the country. Not just financially, the project was worth around Rs 7.2 crore, but much more in terms of reputation. BCG prides itself as one of the world’s leading strategic consultancies, advising governments and businesses on their most strategic and pressing matters.

But in Goa, the consulting firm will now likely see one of its rivals such as McKinsey & Company or Bain & Company take over the prestigious engagement. Meanwhile, the firm will have to do some serious damage control, to ensure there is no spill-over towards its strategy work around the Vision 2047 blueprint.

The BCG team overseeing the Goa engagement included senior partner and managing director Ashish Garg, partner and managing director Sidharth Madaan and Ankush Wadhera, Pulkita Sharma and Rishabh Shah.