Highlands and Islands Enterprise - Project Management Consultancy & Specialist Advice Frameworks

30 January 2014

 

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is the Scottish Government’s economic and community development agency for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. HIE work with private businesses, public and voluntary sector organisations to build sustainable economic growth across Scotland.  Upper Quartile has extensive knowledge of the HIE region and our core Scottish team have worked with HIE staff on a significant number of economic development, business development and economic appraisal and impact projects and assignments over the last 5 years.

 

The Upper Quartile team, led by David Gass, has recently been successful in being selected and confirmed as a provider onto two of the primary economic development frameworks contracted by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

 

Through the Project Management Consultancy Framework, UQ will provide support to HIE and across the HIE Growth Sectors including Business Services, Creative Industries, Energy, Food and Drink, Life Sciences, Tourism and Universities, across four key areas;

 

Due diligence reviews of projects including:

• Economic and social Impact
• Financial and Market viability (historical and projected)
• Management capability
• Funding and financial package review

 

Strategic business reviews of an organisation or project including:

• Robust review of a business, its plans and aspirations in response to a significant challenge or opportunity
• Understanding of current and potential future market opportunities
• Understanding financial projections and the ability to raise additional financial and non-financial resources.

 

Project management support including:

• Ensuring key objectives of a project are met
• Checking progress against project milestones
• Preparing regular reports as required for the HIE Project Team
• Supporting the management of claim verification process as required.

 

Independent reviews of projects including:

• Project health checks
• Independent project reviews

 

Upper Quartile are also one of a number of suppliers to be retained under the HIE Specialist Advice Framework, delivered through PA Consulting. HIE has adopted a successful “account management” approach to working with businesses and social enterprises across the region, providing  support to organisations who demonstrate potential growth or are of local significance.

 

Part of the “account management” approach is to provide HIE clients with a specialist advice service using a wide range of quality assured advisors, and across a range of disciplines as required by the key account companies and social enterprises – including marketing, business planning, export development, e-commerce, HR and financial planning.