OREANDA-NEWS. December 19, 2007. PM Expert, a subsidiary of OAO ARMADA (MICEX, RTS: ARMD), has signed one of the largest contracts on the Russian project management market, the ArmadaGroup press service reported. Inked with Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy System (FGC UES), its worth stands at RUR57m (about $2.3m).

Involved in the process of building up is a commercial energy meter system on the basis of outsourcing. PM Expert will provide consulting services to FGC UES and act as project manager in terms of engineering, reconstruction and assembling of the equipment. PM Expert will be in charge of ensuring efficient interaction between the prime contractor and subcontractors and manage risks, quality and deadlines of the projects.

The contract between FGC UES and PM Expert is set to be one of the biggest on the Russian project management market and may become a crucial point in the attitude of customers towards outsourcing both in the energy industry and other sectors as well. "This is the first time in Russia that a customer has decided to pay over $2m to a specialized company to ensure the achievement of results, to meet all the deadlines and stay within the limits of budget," ARMADA General Director Alexei Kuzovkin said.

Until recently, big companies have been prejudiced against outsourcing for information security reasons, among other things. "Winning the Federal Grid Company's tender has been an important indication of trust and additional proof that our professionalism has been recognized by one of Russia's major companies," said PM Expert Managing Partner Alexander Kutuzov.

One of competitive advantages of PM Expert is its deep practical experience in the sphere of project management. The customer base of the company consists of more than 100 large domestic and foreign accounts. Moreover, PM Expert is one of the country’s leaders in terms of the volume of certified project management professionals (PMP).

Companies usually turn to outsourcers in situations where the number and complexity of projects have increased tremendously, and a company has not enough in-house resources to implement them. Instead of spending years to build its own team of professionals, a customer gets qualified personnel immediately. Assigning non-core functions to specialized outsourcing companies has become more than justified in rapidly growing economies. This explains the rapid (up to 70-80% per annum) growth of outsourcing in Russia. By 2008, the outsourcing market in Russia is expected to reach $3.5-4bn, while the project management outsourcing is its most dynamically developing segment.

IT services, including outsourcing, is one of the priority business development spheres of the ARMADA Group. Over the first nine months of 2007, ARMADA has managed to boost its sales in this particular business segment by over 300%.