As soon I hung up the phone with Peter, Lynda popped in the family room where our phone was located and said supper is ruined. I remember saying to her, let’s go to Broadway for a quick supper as I wanted to talk to her about my conversation with Peter.
Once we ordered our meals, Lynda said what’s going on?
I said I was talking to a guy who works for CGI and he thinks that there’s an opportunity for us to team up against other big companies like IBM and Systems House.
She said but we are not a big company.
I explained to Lynda that he was talking about subcontracting our small company to write a proposal and manage the project, if we got it. I continued, if we won the contract, he thought, I would be able to use my consultants as well as some CGI employees. The idea is to transfer some of the skills to their employees so that CGI would be able to respond to the next BPR opportunity without our help. CGI has no experience in BPR. They thought this way they would acquire some relevant experience and thus be able to handle the next BPR project independently.
She said doesn’t it bother you that they are trying to use you and your consultants to get the business? Then as soon as the project is done, they will kick you out?
I said that’s the name of the game in our business, babe. To be totally honest with you, no, it doesn’t bother me at all.
Lynda said what are the chances of winning the contract?
Based on what Peter told me, IBM and Systems House will try desperately to win the contract. I think the possibility of winning it is limited, but this would give me an opportunity to work with the big boys. Who knows what happens in the future.
Lynda said how much time would you have to invest in writing the proposal?
I said at least a week.
Lynda said do you think it’s worth giving it a try?
I said I think we can afford to invest one week. I am only working on two projects right now.
Lynda said do you think you should go after this project directly?
I said in that case, our chances of winning the RFP would be less than 5 percent.
Lynda said perhaps you should consider teaming up with CGI.
We finished our supper. When we got back, Adam was at home. I thought I should brief him about my conversation with Peter.
He was supportive of the idea of working with CGI.
The next day was Friday. I met Peter for lunch. He appeared to be quite happy with the conversation that we had on the phone the night before.
He said he briefed his boss, and his boss wanted to meet with me that afternoon.
After lunch Peter took me to his office. He showed me the office area which could be allocated to the project. He also showed me an office which could be allocated to me as project manager.
We didn’t spend more than 10 minutes in his boss’s office. The meeting was very formal. His boss said he had seen my resumé. He thought I definitely qualified for the project manager’s position for the piece of business they were going after. In the end, he said how you got into BPR business, Mir.
I recall telling him “accidentally”. Then I explained to him that I knew somebody who worked for Texas Instruments who wanted to market their BPR modelling tool to DND. Unfortunately, the contract wasn’t big enough for them to bring somebody from Texas to demonstrate doing the contract here in Ottawa. He found out that I knew enough about the BPR methodology, and asked if I would be interested in working as a subcontractor with him at DND. That’s how I got involved–and the rest is history. He appeared to be happy with my explanation.
In any case, they gave me a copy of the RFP and asked me to review it and give Peter a call to discuss it.
I worked all weekend on the RFP. I drafted a response which I thought was a reasonable start.
Instead of speaking to Peter on the phone, I took the draft to his office first thing on Monday and left it with his secretary for his review.
Peter called me around 10:00 AM and sounded so excited on the phone. I said what’s going on, Peter.
He said you drafted a response to a complicated RFP on the weekend?
I recall saying to Peter that it’s a first draft and it needs some cleaning up, but I am happy with the methodology I proposed and the resource requirements that I identified. I also said, you may have noticed that I proposed five BPR-trained consultants with experience from my shop, and five resources from your company, assuming that you may have senior resources available for this project.
Peter said, of course, I will give you five excellent senior consultants, Mir.
I said the idea is to let each of your consultants work with mine in teams of two. This will provide them with all kinds of opportunities to learn about BPR while helping each other.
Peter said it sounds like an excellent approach. He supported it wholeheartedly.
If I remember correctly, it took a week of me working with Peter to finalize the proposal, which we submitted before the closing date.
I went back to my projects.
Lynda was very busy with her sorority. She was elected as president of the sorority for the chapter she was working with. I thought that was an excellent accomplishment.
At the same time, she was busy spending money on new drapes, furniture, and everything else she wanted for the house.
Once she was reasonably happy with the decor of the house, she wanted her mother to come and stay with us to show off the new house and the furniture. We ended up going to Brampton to get mom to stay with us for a while.
There were no new opportunities for proposals or marketing to different departments on the horizon, but I was keeping myself busy with the current projects. Adam seemed to be happy working with us, which was very important to me. My team of consultants accepted Adam as a smart kid, not necessarily as my son. Adam continued to learn the tricks of the trade. His MBA classes in the evening were going very well, too.
One Monday morning when I got to the office, I had a message from somebody I knew when I did some consulting in DND. It was relatively a small contract but I spent a lot of time doing some extra work for them when he was overwhelmed. He told me he would always remember that.
In any event, I returned his call. He sounded very excited on the phone. He wanted to share some information with me over lunch.
We met in a local restaurant. Once we ordered our food, he said the information that I want to share with you is kind of confidential. I don’t want you to share it with anybody else.
I said you know how trustworthy I am?
He said there is a movement in our department about the BPR project. A full colonel is assigned to be in charge of the project, but several senior officers from various parts of the department also are assigned to the team to work together. It is perhaps the first time that uniformed personnel and civilians in the department have an opportunity to work together. Furthermore, some of us were selected from different areas to help review and evaluate each proposal that has been received for this project.
I asked if he knew how many proposals they had received.
He said the answer to that question is no. But what I know is that we are trying to select four big companies with appropriate experience in BPR.
I said – WOW! I had no clue that DND was taking BPR that seriously.
He said you don’t know the half of it.
I said, however, what does this have to do with me?
He said don’t play dumb, Mir.
I said what do you mean?
He said I know that you teamed up with CGI to respond to this opportunity. What you don’t know is how the project is set up and how the selected companies will work with a huge DND staff.
I said what do you mean by selected companies?
He said there will be more than one company with expertise in BPR to work with us. Then each selected consulting company has to transfer the expertise to personnel assigned to that team. That particular team would be assigned to do BPR for a functional area with their resources as well as the DND folks who are assigned to the team.
I said wait a minute. I am having difficulties understanding the concept.
He said it’s easy. We don’t want to always be dependent upon consulting companies. This way we would learn the tricks of the trade working with people like you teaching us the methodology. Then we would do our own BPR in each and every department with or without your help.
It was a huge jump for me and I was still trying to comprehend.
He said I am not supposed to talk about this to anybody but I trust you and I am sure you are not going to share this information with CGI.
I said I guarantee you that nobody is going to find out from me.
He said I am not going to say another word on the subject but your name did come up more than once during our meetings which may or may not mean anything. I hope you are buying my lunch.
I said indeed.
