A project in one of the most impoverished and corrupt places in the world immersed PA Consulting staff in a tale that is very far removed from the usual run-of-the-mill day at the office. The project was to turn round the United Energy Distribution Company (UEDC), the state-owned electricity utility in Georgia. It was so successful it won PA Consulting the gold and platinum medals at the 2006 MCA Management Awards in London earlier this year.

The contract was awarded by the Georgian government and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in an emergency response to the impending collapse of the electricity industry in Georgia, an impoverished republic in the southern Caucasus.