Infrastructure
Large International Engineering Services Firm
ENGAGEMENT GOAL
Our client, a major U.S.-based engineering and design firm, entered Mexico by successfully bidding for the contract to serve as project manager for Mexico City’s New International Airport (NAIM) – then the largest public works project in Mexican history. The client sought political risk analysis and strategic guidance to support it in undertaking this high-profile and controversial project, which was the Peña Nieto administration’s flagship infrastructure project.
SERVICES PROVIDED
We acted as our client’s trusted advisor in Mexico by providing an insider’s knowledge of the local political and business environment for the company’s first foray into the country. We guided its government relations strategy, established ties to key interest groups, and developed local partnerships. In addition, we provided key political insights and risk assessment while devising the appropriate strategies to face a very complex and highly scrutinized project. In concert with a third-party firm sourced through us, we provided public relations and communications support.
OUTCOME
Our advice and counsel allowed our client to remain focused on coordinating what was then one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the Western Hemisphere and to manage a growing role in the project until its cancellation by the López Obrador administration in 2018.
Major San Diego-based Planning Authority
ENGAGEMENT GOAL
Our client, a major San Diego-based planning authority, sought enhanced government relations capabilities in Washington, D.C., and Mexico City in support of its lead role in the design, construction and execution of a state-of-the-art port of entry to be jointly operated by the U.S. and Mexican governments. Specific objectives included ensuring that the two governments continued to support the initiative through executive branch transitions following presidential elections in 2016 and 2018.
SERVICES PROVIDED
We successfully won a public tender to provide a range of services to our client’s government affairs team and the authority’s senior leadership. We played a key role in ensuring broad-based financial and political support in Mexico City and Washington, D.C., for the establishment of a model border crossing designed to enhance the efficiency of binational trade. We arranged and conducted high-level meetings with officials of both governments and provided strategic advice and analysis prior to, and following, those meetings. When appropriate, we also represented our client in public programs designed to promote development of innovative border crossings between the United States and Mexico.
OUTCOME
Both executive branches continued to express support for the project and to take appropriate steps to ensure that the new crossing would be operational on schedule. Our work helped memorialize agreements among all of the relevant parties prior to the change in administration in Mexico in late 2018.