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Public Sector

Overview of the consulting areas covered by the Roland Berger Public Sector team and selected project examples with a focus on national strategies, digitalization, and (re)privatization.

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National and regional policies and strategic realignment

The public sector is facing profound structural changes. Demographic shifts, rapid urbanization in some regions and workforce aging in others, climate change, fiscal pressures, economic diversification agendas, and rising service expectations are reshaping national priorities. Governments are required to modernize administrative systems, safeguard and expand critical infrastructure, and strengthen institutional resilience in an increasingly complex global environment. These developments require not just selective adjustments but fundamental reforms, sustainable structures, and targeted implementation.

We support public institutions in achieving strategic realignment, developing efficient measures, and designing operating models for lasting change. Our ambition is to develop strategies with real impact.

Organizational transformation

Structural reforms inevitably require organizational transformation. Public administrations must adapt to expanding mandates, growing complexity, and increasing demands for efficiency and transparency. Transformation today often involves streamlining processes, reducing administrative burdens, strengthening cost efficiency, and enhancing cross-institutional coordination. At the same time, new national strategies and development agendas require coherent execution across ministries, agencies, and public entities.

For us, organizational transformation goes beyond just adapting the structure of an organization: Together with our clients, we challenge existing structures and processes and develop a viable vision for the future, including the skills and systems necessary to deliver it. These kinds of changes require modern leadership at all levels.

"Large public infrastructure projects defining the next decade will be distinguished not by their scale alone but by their intelligence. Whether it’s 5G networks enabling autonomous transportation or quantum computing centers driving scientific breakthroughs, success demands understanding how AI amplifies infrastructure impact across every sector."
Uwe Hörmann
Uwe Hörmann
Senior Partner
Berlin Office, Central Europe

Digital transformation, data, and artificial intelligence

Digitalization and artificial intelligence have the potential to make handling public administration tasks much more efficient and user friendly for citizens, businesses, and government employees. The key lies in structured data fusion and truly value-adding usage. This requires integrated data platforms and infrastructures, structured data, and a responsible approach to transparency, data protection, and control.

We make AI effective in public administration. Building on strategic guardrails, we help you identify beneficial, scalable use cases. We create the necessary data and infrastructure foundations and support you throughout the process of implementing the use cases and their adoption by the users so that they generate measurable value.

Strategic stakeholder management and targeted communications

Public sector reforms take place in complex stakeholder environments. Institutional mandates, sector-specific interests, and varying political and administrative perspectives influence decision-making processes.

With our many years of experience, we know that sustainable reform happens when different standpoints are brought together in a structured manner and developed into a common solution within a clearly guided process towards a shared goal. Crucial aspects of that are a precise process architecture and transparent communications. We ensure that reform initiatives are not only technically sound but broadly supported and practically implementable across the relevant ecosystem.

Effective delivery of large infrastructure programs

Climate change, economic competitiveness, societal changes, digitalization, and resilience are demanding action from the public sector to design and deliver large-scale infrastructures.

These once-in-a-decade infrastructure programs face multiple challenges in being delivered on scope, on time, and on budget. With our dedicated teams, toolbox, and ability to coordinate multiple internal and external stakeholders, we know how to set up and run the appropriate program structure and governance to turn them into successes. Read more about large-scale infrastructure.

How we have supported our clients
National strategy focus – Development of a national strategy for mega-events in the GCC region

  • What was the goal? In close cooperation with the client, we supported the development of a long-term national strategy to position the GCC region as a leading global destination for hosting mega-events, aligned with broader economic diversification and international positioning objectives.
  • What did we do? We conducted a comprehensive assessment of the existing ecosystem for hosting large-scale events and developed a detailed long-term event calendar spanning 13 years, identifying approximately 160–200 annual events. In parallel, we defined the future mandate and operating model for the government entity responsible for coordinating and delivering the national events strategy.
  • What was the outcome? The strategy provided a structured roadmap for the development of the mega-events ecosystem, including detailed impact assessments for each identified event. It also led to the design of a new government entity with a defined operational budget, governance model, and implementation plan, supported by monitoring tools to ensure effective execution.

Strategic repositioning – Helping a public employment service to redefine its strategic priorities

  • What was the goal? Together with the Executive Committee and the Board, we supported the service’s strategic priorities of facing the challenges of the labor market and increasing the employment rate.
  • What did we do? We developed a forward-looking understanding of the evolution of the labor market in terms of skills gaps, companies’ needs, and the profile of unemployed citizens. Grounded in this strategic and fact-based vision, we applied a collaborative approach to develop the priorities at scale to achieve the targets in term of employment rate increase. The detailed action plan was complemented by an appropriate KPI dashboard to steer change and impact.
  • What was the outcome? The project enabled a strategic plan supported by the leadership and the key stakeholders, i.e., the government, unions, and companies’ representatives.

Privatization focus – Supporting the privatization of a public sanitation company in São Paulo

  • What was the goal? Together with the client, we supported the transition of a major public sanitation company from public to private ownership. The objective was to ensure a smooth public-private transition while strengthening operational performance, improving governance, and creating a sustainable foundation for long-term value generation.
  • What did we do? We structured the project around three core pillars: managing the public-to-private transition, establishing value generation task forces, and reviewing the company’s business plan. Our team monitored key transition streams across operations, IT, compliance, and labor through a detailed progress dashboard. In parallel, we implemented task forces focused on water resilience and CAPEX prioritization, and conducted a comprehensive review of the company’s business plan to address operational constraints and revenue delays.
  • What was the outcome? The project enabled a structured and effective privatization process while strengthening operational performance. The company achieved improved revenue generation and operational efficiency, supported by clearer investment priorities and stronger governance mechanisms. The engagement also generated valuable insights on managing large-scale privatization processes, including risk management, integration planning, and value creation initiatives.

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