PA Consulting Group, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Agency for International Development, completes agreement to work with Joint Stock Company Tbilgazi of Georgia to improve its operations and the availability of natural gas this Winter

PA Consulting Group, the leading integrated management, systems and technology consulting firm, announced today that it has completed the agreement with the Government of Georgia, the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, the City of Tbilisi, the Ministry of State Property Management and the Joint Stock Company Tbilgazi to cooperate in a mutual effort to improve the availability of natural gas for paying customers in Winter 2000-2001 and to prepare Tbiligazi for privatization. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Over the next seven months PA staff will work directly with Tbilgazi management to reshape their internal structure into an efficient commercial organization well positioned for privatization. Efforts will be focused on financial management, operational improvements, and customer services including metering, billing and collections.

The General Director of Tbilgazi, Gia Gozalishvili, said:

“Tbilgazi management is excited to make this project a success by extending cooperation to PA Consulting Group.”

PA’s goal is to introduce modern management practices that will improve the overall operations and increase employee productivity at Tbilgazi, thereby helping to increase the likelihood of successful privatization in 2001, a process that has failed twice before.

Dean White, PA’s Chief of Party in Georgia, said:

“Our objectives are both short and longer term. In the short term, we want to work with management to introduce those changes that can lead to immediate improvements in Tbilgazi’s financial management, operations and service to customers. In the mid to longer term, we want to increase the likelihood of successfully privatizing Tbilgazi, a stated goal of the Government of Georgia.”

Several activities are underway. Shortly, in an effort to evaluate current gas service, PA’s market research team will visit 400 randomly selected Tbilgazi customers and administer a survey. The questions are designed to gather customer’s comments regarding cost, usage, system reliability, suggested improvements and customer service.

The Vice Premier of the City of Tbilisi and Herb Emmrich, Senior Energy Advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development have agreed to meet monthly to monitor the progress of this project.