30 consulting firms nominated for MCA Awards 2015

The Management Consultancies Association, the representative body for management consultancy firms in the UK, has announced the shortlists for the 2015 MCA Awards. In total 30 different consulting firms have been nominated, with PwC (18), EY (13), KPMG (12), Arup (7) Deloitte and Grant Thornton (both 5) the largest contenders. The awards evening will take place on Thursday 23 April, with winners decided by an independent panel of expert judges.

Running for 18 years now, the annual MCA awards have grown into the leading event that celebrates high-quality performance within the UK consulting industry. The awards have 14 project categories, six individual categories and two overall awards – Project of the Year and Consultant of the Year. New this year is the Thought Leadership category, a testimony to the growing importance of eminence within the industry. 

With 18 nominations PwC is the clear frontrunner, followed by Big Four rivals EY and KPMG. Engineering and consulting giant Arup stands at #4, while Deloitte and Grant Thornton share the fifth spot in the list. Interestingly, nearly half of PwC’s nominations stem from individual awards, while in the case of Grant Thornton the full suite of nominations can be attributed to project and team achievements. Together these six firms have 60 nominations, 59% of the in total 102 nominations shortlisted by the MCA.

Ten consulting firms have between 2 and 4 nominations, with Atkins, BearingPoint and CSC leading the pack with four each. Accenture has two nominations, as well as last year’s Best New Consultancy Elix-IRR, tech giant IBM and supply chain advisory firm LCP Consulting. Fourteen consultancies have been recognised with one nomination for best practice performance, including BDO, Boxwood, iMPOWER, Moorhouse and North Highland. “We have had so much interest in this year’s awards from firms of all sizes, and to be shortlisted already recognises that these projects rank alongside the absolute best in the UK and overseas. Congratulations to everyone who has been shortlisted, and we look forward to celebrating everyone’s successes in April,” says Alan Leaman, head of the Management Consultancies Association.

An overview of the detailed shortlist for project awards and individual awards:

Best Use of Thought Leadership 
Arup
EY
GE Healthcare Finnamore
Grant Thornton
KPMG – 2 entries
Moorhouse
PPL
PwC – 2 entries

Change Management in the Private Sector 
Boxwood with Arco
Curzon with Imtech
EC Harris with Heathrow
EY with Nokia
Grant Thornton with Kodak Alaris
LCP Consulting with Edwards Vacuum

Change Management in the Public Sector  
Atkins with Bridgend, Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan Councils
Atkins with Department for Work and Pensions
Deloitte with Metropolitan Police
EY with Network Rail
GE Healthcare Finnamore with NHS Scotland
iMPOWER with Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
KPMG with Police Service of Northern Ireland
Newton Europe with Kent County Council (KCC)
PwC with NHS England Keogh Review 

Commercial Excellence 
Arup with National Grid
Capita Consulting with London Borough of Barnet
EY with Central Southern Commissioning Support Unit
KPMG with Jaguar Land Rover
Occumen with Fitness First 

Customer Engagement  
BAE Systems Applied Intelligence with The Health & Social Care Information Centre (HRCIC)
CSC with Royal Bank of Scotland
Grant Thornton with Nationwide Building Society
PwC with HSBC 

Digital & Technology 
Atkins with Department for Work and Pensions
BearingPoint with Jaguar Land Rover
Deloitte with Aegon
Grant Thornton with Nationwide Building Society
IBM with BP Castrol
KPMG with Lloyds Banking Group
KPMG with the AA

Finance & Risk Management 
EY with Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games 

Innovation
Arup with Croydon Council
EY with London Councils
IBM with Homebase
Mott MacDonald with AmeyCespa
North Highland with John Lewis
PPL with North West London Collaboration

International 
Arup with GVK Mumbai International Airport
BDO with Department for International Development (DFID)
EY with HSBC
PwC with Roche
Quest Worldwide with AkzoNobel

People  
Arup with Heathrow
Elix-IRR with Morrisons
Grant Thornton with Kodak Alaris
PwC with Department for Business, Innovation & Skills
PwC with Ministry of Defence 

Performance Improvement in the Private Sector
LCP Consulting with Edwards Vacuum
Newton Europe with Brintons
PwC with Office Angels
Suiko with Vivergo Fuels 

Performance Improvement in the Public Sector  
Atkins with Rural Payments Agency
EY with Ministry of Defence
GE Healthcare Finnamore with Chelsea & Westminster Hospital
KPMG with West Sussex Hospital NHS Trust
Newton Europe with Kent County Council (KCC)
PwC with Barts NHS Health Trust
PwC with South Tyneside NHS Foundation Trust 

Social & Environmental Value  
Accenture with School of Hard Knocks
EY with Invest in Africa 

Strategy 
CSC with Royal Bank of Scotland
EY with LLR Health & Care Economy

Change Management Consultant of the Year
Kate Fairhall, Arup
Chris Clarke, CSC
Sam Sanders, KPMG
Georgina Cox, PwC
Ruth Morgan, PwC 

Digital & Technology Consultant of the Year
Mark Burnett, BearingPoint
Mihir Parikh, BearingPoint
Enda Ridge, KPMG
Sean Mahdi, PwC 

Human Resources Consultant of the Year
Emma Leonis, Deloitte
Arun Batra, EY
Madeline Lewis, KPMG
Juliet Stuttard, PwC 

Performance Improvement Consultant of the Year
Alistair Robson, Accenture
Alistair McKelvie, BearingPoint
Jackie Collier, EY
Rory Leyne, KPMG
Richard Crofton, PwC

Strategy Consultant of the Year
Paul Le, CSC
Grant Saggers, PwC 

Young Consultant of the Year
Annabelle Woods, Arup
Rossi Dzhedzheva, Deloitte
Emma Staff, Deloitte
Daniel Garsin, Elix-IRR
Katerina Skindilias, EY
Cassandra Hancock, KPMG
Cynthia Bernard, Propaganda
Hussein Hadid, PwC
David Lurie, PwC