Project Triage

Development projects in insolvency: a basis for decisions in ten days

When an engineering service provider or a supplier with its own development files for insolvency, the customer projects keep running—and so does the clock. Manufacturers want to know whether their projects will be delivered, key people are thinking about leaving, and investors ask what they would actually be buying. The administrator has to decide within a few weeks which projects to continue. That takes reliable facts, fast and to the point.

Project Triage provides those facts, fast and neutral.

How it works

• First assessment after 72 hours: a traffic light for every customer development project, based on interviews and existing documents.
• Situation report after ten working days: a structured assessment per project as the basis for talks with the creditors’ committee, manufacturers, and investors.
• Follow-up if needed: continuing the key projects in an interim assignment until an investor solution or handover.

What the report shows per project

• Status of milestones and releases, plan versus actual
• Cost and time to complete, as a range with assumptions
• Delivery risk at the manufacturer: proximity to SOP, switching costs, customer stance
• Compliance status: Automotive SPICE, functional safety, cybersecurity, release management
• Key people and dependencies (subcontractors, tools, rights as documented)
• One clear option: continue, renegotiate with the customer, or hand over in an orderly way

When a development unit is to be sold

In insolvency, development teams are often sold separately, to engineering service providers or technology companies. Buyers pay for running projects and the people who carry them. Project Triage provides a handover package per project with backlog, release status, open issues, and customer contacts. That makes the unit faster to assess for investors.

What I bring

I have led safety-critical development projects in the automotive industry for many years, on both the manufacturer and supplier side, and developed CORE SPICE as a way to get projects that are off course delivering again. The legal decision on continuing contracts stays with the administrator. I provide the technical and project basis for it.

Who it is for

Insolvency administrators, custodians, and restructuring officers, M&A advisers in distressed sales, and manufacturers that need to secure a critical development supplier.