Attain's Greg Baroni is rebuilding the best of BearingPoint, without the baggage
Last Summer, BearingPoint sold most of its prized public sector business to Deloitte. But due to audit conflicts, not all of the business could be acquired. The remaining pieces—103 contracts served by about 200 consultants—were acquired in July for $15.1 million by Eclat Consulting, now known as Attain. Six months later, Attain is off to a good start, having retained everyone they on-boarded from BearingPoint and added 26 additional
public sector contracts. Consulting recently caught up with CEO Greg Baroni to discuss his former company, the launch of Attain and where his new firm goes from here.
Consulting: What did you think about when you watched your former firm, BearingPoint, dissolve last year?
Baroni: Although I left the firm several years ago, I was keeping an eye on the break-up. It was painful to watch. When Richard Roberts [Attain's federal practice president] and I worked together at what was then KPMG's public sector consulting practice, it was a couple million-dollar business. It was generating about $1.5 billion when it broke up last year. I thought, 'wouldn't it be great to get a piece of that business, free of some of the former management and financial problems?' And that was the genesis of the rebirth.
Consulting: Why were you looking to start Attain?
Baroni: I was looking to build a company that could uniquely address the market's need for help dealing with, what I call, the 'innovation superhighway.' Clients are facing challenges in sustaining that competitive edge. And I think there's a huge consulting opportunity in helping the public sector participate in that value chain.
Consulting: What lessons were learned from your tenure at BearingPoint?
Baroni: From my perspective, there were a number of things that BearingPoint was doing right. The biggest lesson is that you've got to have the right kind of IT infrastructure in place to run the firm. Deltek has built a custom back office system for us, which includes finance as well as time and expense reporting.
We made sure from the start that we had an infrastructure that fits the markets we intend to serve. Second, we've learned from BearingPoint's experience not to try to be all things to all people, so fast. I think the firm's fast geographic expansion, as a result of the Andersen office acquisitions, was a little bit of a crippling activity.
Consulting: Your firm is only six months old, how are things progressing?
Baroni: So far, so good. Our run rate, including the 26 contracts we've won on our own, is now about $50 million.
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