Independent advisory grounded in delivery.

CBS Group was established in 2002 as an infrastructure asset management and systems engineering practice working with government and blue-chip clients. The firm advises on commercial and technical problems at the intersection of asset performance and operational technology — road and tunnel infrastructure, water and energy utilities, rail networks, and the connectivity systems that underpin them. Work spans whole-of-life cost analysis, commercial model design, procurement architecture, and the integration of operational technology with asset management and compliance frameworks.

The firm’s commercial model is built on the principle that supplier incentive should align to the operational outcome the client is trying to achieve. CBS Group prices on outcomes rather than hours, and its value-based pricing structures — proven across multi-billion-dollar government infrastructure programmes — translate directly into the procurement and contract architecture it builds for clients. Fixed-fee strategy engagements, milestone-linked architecture work, and outcome-based retainers are the standard commercial structures, not arrangements reserved for select clients.

CBS Group’s core team of twelve specialists is supplemented by a network of thirty subject experts across systems engineering, asset management, and commercial advisory. The firm is Sydney-based and works across Australian and New Zealand government procurement frameworks.

LEO Advisory is CBS Group’s practice for the Australian connectivity transition. CBS Group advises government infrastructure operators, regulated telcos, and critical enterprise buyers on the transition from legacy satellite and mobile networks to LEO-based connectivity. Independence from any satellite or telecommunications supplier, combined with asset management discipline and the CAPITAL framework — Commercial Asset Performance, Infrastructure Tailoring And Lifecycle — outcome-based commercial structures, positions CBS Group as the specialist advisor for organisations whose connectivity decisions carry operational and regulatory consequences.

The LEO transition is producing a set of procurement and architecture decisions that established consultancies are not structured to answer on the buyer’s terms. Major firms treat satellite as a technology topic; satellite operators treat advice as a sales motion. CBS Group approaches connectivity transition as an asset management and commercial architecture problem — which is what it is for the infrastructure operators, regulated telcos, and critical enterprise buyers who depend on connectivity as an operational input rather than a consumer convenience.

The CAPITAL framework — Commercial Asset Performance, Infrastructure Tailoring And Lifecycle — is CBS Group’s proprietary methodology for converting asset management discipline into procurable commercial structures. Developed with Transport for NSW for the Western Harbour Tunnel, Sydney Harbour Tunnel, and M6 Stage 1 Tunnel, the framework produced more than $180 million in direct capital and operational savings during the Western Harbour Tunnel design phase and established a repeatable 30-year fixed-fee asset management and commercial model for critical infrastructure.

The framework’s core mechanism is risk allocation. CAPITAL structures define which party is best placed to carry each category of risk across the asset lifecycle and construct commercial models that price accordingly — moving risk to the party best equipped to manage it, away from the party least equipped to absorb it. For government clients accustomed to time-and-materials contracts with cost-plus contractors, this produces a material shift in commercial relationship and cost profile over the life of the asset.

Applied to connectivity procurement, CAPITAL’s principles translate directly. LEO transition contracts structured on CAPITAL principles carry supplier-side obligations for availability, integration, and operational outcomes — not just service delivery at a point in time. Lifecycle accountability is embedded in the commercial model from the outset, which is the difference between buying a data pipe and buying a capability that supports asset performance across a 10-to-30-year operational horizon.