NineSquared | Public Policy Consultant

Understanding the current and future cost impacts of policies is an important component of decision making for public and private sector leaders who use the analysis to inform decisions regarding regulatory changes, services, and preferred policy options.

Public policy is a vital tool for shaping the social, economic, and environmental landscape. Policy makers, however, face a complex landscape of rapid technological developments and shifting community expectations. Policy makers need to be confident that the policy advice that they provide is effective while balancing diverse interests and a potentially rapidly changing policy landscape. Understanding the underlying issues and root causes of policy problems, developing a data-driven evidence base to inform options and evaluating the likely impacts through financial and economic modelling, risk modelling, scenario analysis and strategic forecasting can provide policy professionals with additional tools to develop effective, implementable policies that improve outcomes for everyone.

What we do

Our experienced team works with policy makers to develop policy and program solutions that are practical to implement and informed by rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis. We advise and assist policy makers to identify, quantify, and understand the impact of policies at a regional and economy wide level. Using our modelling expertise, we can quantify the likely impact on specific groups or geographic locations, allowing decisions about service delivery locations to be made, enabling policymakers to better understand potential unforeseen and inequitable outcomes from decisions. Equally, opportunities for improving the proposed policy approach and implementation can also be identified, with our expertise including:

Policy and strategy development for government – We develop sound, implementable and practical policy options and strategies that are supported by evidence and data.
Undertake stakeholder analysis and engagement to inform policies and gain support – We can design and undertake stakeholder engagement as part of the policy development and review process.
Economic, financial and commercial input – Draw on our expertise in economics, financial and commercial advisory services, and data science to inform analysis of policy options.
Policy implementation – We develop implementation plans, roadmaps, and detailed project plans to support policy implementation.
Policy cost analysis – Our team conducts financial and economic analysis of policies to identify financial and social costs and benefits. We also forecast future demand for services to inform costings, apply real options analysis to identify the value of policy options, and undertake quantitative modelling of risks to inform future cost analysis.

We are engaged by leaders and decision makers to conduct strategic policy reviews, which provide confidence that policy frameworks remain fit for purpose. Where policies are not meeting user requirements, our public policy team advises on practical solutions to address gaps. Working with decision makers to clarify objectives, we assess the current level of effectiveness of policies and identify solutions, and in doing so, assist policy makers to build a case for change, supported by robust evidence and data.