Negotiation Consulting for Governments and NGOs

Our team has successfully advised governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the globe on their most pressing negotiations, including guidance on dealing with wars and serious economic threats, as well as extensive support related to bidding and contract negotiation work. Our outstanding results in government negotiations and NGO negotiations allow for better working relationships inside and outside of government, improved services for citizens, safer and healthier living environments, and billions in cumulative savings.

The Managing Director of Negotiation Advice International (NAI), Peter D. Johnston, spearheads all of our government and NGO client engagements. He is an internationally recognized negotiation expert, sought-after negotiation consultant, speaker, mediator, and bestselling author. His award-winning book, Negotiating with Giants, relays lessons from our firm’s advisory work and some of history’s most difficult negotiations.

Peter’s negotiation results have been formally recognized by the United States Government for their positive economic and social impact, both domestically and abroad.

Below are some brief examples of engagements executed by our principals worldwide, followed by a number of more detailed case examples of both government negotiations and NGO negotiations.

As negotiation experts trusted by high-profile business and government leaders, athletes, celebrities, and public figures, our reputation for discretion and confidentiality is critical to our success. Given the sensitive nature of our work, most of our clients’ names can never be made public. However, we do identify some clients when and as appropriate, only connecting them to detailed project descriptions on an exceptional basis.

From Negotiating Civil Wars and Regional Governance to First Nations Agreements and Change Orders: Engagement Examples

The UN’s Special Ambassador to Africa’s Great Lakes Region

Structuring and co-chairing talks in French and English amongst 30 African leaders and experts, guiding plenary and smaller group discussions at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. The focus of discussions: managing the scope of the conflict, delivering financial and humanitarian aid to those most at risk, and saving as many lives as possible.

A Regional Government in North America

Helping establish an improved regional governance agreement amongst more than a dozen municipalities with respect to working together on transportation corridors, resource and service sharing, environmental management, and targets for population growth and development densities.

The Carcross/Tagish First Nation (Yukon Territory, Canada)

Advising on a range of negotiation issues and decisions related to this First Nation’s future goals, needs, and concerns.

The Government of the Philippines

Working with senior government officials to improve their outcomes in a wide range of high-stake conflicts and negotiations through negotiation training and advice.

A State Government

A government challenged by suppliers’ mounting change orders in the tens of millions had us develop a systematic approach to lowering change orders through improved agreements, deal monitoring systems, and more streamlined processing of changes made by suppliers.

From Renegotiating Power Deals and Improving Procurement Negotiations to Mediating Indigenous Rights: Case Examples

Case #1: The World Bank and a National Government in Asia

Renegotiating power contracts worth US$25 billion which were no longer economical in light of this nation’s mounting financial challenges. This engagement included: developing and reviewing a range of potential strategies for the President and his Cabinet; creating a new financial instrument for repayment; planning communication with the country’s people; preparing legal defenses as a potential alternative to a negotiated agreement with the international corporations and governments on the other side of the table; and training government officials in effective negotiation and decision-making, including bidding and contract negotiations.

Case #2: A Provincial Government in Canada

Advising senior officials over a multi-year period on how to comprehensively and significantly improve results in their most important negotiations and relationships. This mandate included: conducting a relationship audit of a key corporate partnership with a view to improving results; training senior officials and the government’s deal-makers in a systematic approach to negotiating, including enhanced approaches to bidding and contract negotiation; trouble-shooting deals that had gone bad, helping save hundreds of millions of dollars; being called in to advise on large deals and influence efforts; promoting new approaches to procurement to better meet the government’s needs; and developing deal checklists for consistency across government in preparing for, executing, implementing and monitoring deals.

Case #3: A National Government and Indigenous Nation

This mediation over relationship and self-governance matters involved a significant focus on the historic relationship between the parties and a detailed, jointly generated timeline to surface key events, impressions of those events, and the related impact on the relationship between the parties. We developed a mutually agreed process for these highly sensitive discussions, including the use of a talking stick. With a foundation of increased trust and transparency established, NAI continued to stay involved over time, contributing whenever helpful to coordination between the parties as they tackled specific issues together.