On Friday, May 8, Deloitte Consulting acquired the vast majority of BearingPoint's North American Public Services Practice as well as other business units, including: healthcare, emerging markets, state and local government services, and education. While Deloitte's presence in the state and local marketplace has been larger than in the federal space, the firm had been growing its federal practice at a significant clip even before the acquisition. The legacy Deloitte practice has doubled in size the last two years and is on pace to generate about $500 million by the end of the firm's fiscal year (June 1). Adding BearingPoint's approximately $1 billion federal practice adds significant depth and breadth far faster than Deloitte could manage organically. Gene Procknow, Managing Director of Deloitte's U.S. Federal Government Services practice, sat down with Consulting 's One on One to discuss the deal.

Consulting: What made this deal attractive for Deloitte?

Procknow: This is a deal of a lifetime. It's a real opportunity to acquire a well-managed business with a deep set of client relationships. We're very excited about this. In addition, BearingPoint has a real strength in technology and tech-related services and we're looking forward to rolling out those capabilities to our clients.

Consulting: How are BearingPoint's consultants reacting to the acquisition?

Procknow: This transaction is a little different than the HP-EDS merger where employees were acquired as part of the process. In this case, each of the 4,200 former BearingPoint employees received an offer letter from Deloitte and all but a handful have accepted. We had an on boarding session last night [May 11] and all but a handful showed up to that event. I'd challenge most companies to have that much excitement.

Consulting: How have clients reacted to the news?

Procknow: Client reaction has been very positive. Despite challenges, BearingPoint's clients have been very loyal. It's pretty phenomenal; BearingPoint was still receiving government awards through the bankruptcy period. The deal closed at 3 p.m. on Friday and by 8 a.m. Saturday proposals were going out on a joint basis. There is a lot of positive momentum.

One on One with Deloitte Consulting's Gene Procknow

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