All on board!

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Singapore-Jakarta, 7^th July 2014

A short stop in Singapore to meet with my team before I am on the road again to Jakarta to attend some progress meetings for one of our projects there tonight and tomorrow.

During my team meeting one project in particular seems to bug as no other…We are “on board” but with no official paperwork to confirm our appointment, which with some clients can be a delicate situation, with potentially disastrous outcomes. In this case the project is quite prestigious but the client is a notorious bad paymaster. We had started on this project 1-2 years ago already, but the project was aborted late last year due to insufficient funds or “irreconcilable budget issues”…whatever you want to call it. We were already on board then, with signed contract and appointment fees paid. However the contract was officially cancelled with all consultants asked to put in new fee proposal for the now revised scope and project brief just recently. In doing so all previous contracts became null and void.

Project meetings have re-started but with most consultants having no new signed contract! We submitted our new proposal and initially stood our ground we would not move until we had an official confirmation, a signed contract or our appointment fees paid. None of this had been forthcoming, but the new project manager has been organising meetings like nobody’s business, moving quickly and requesting technical documentation to be completed within a fortnight or so!

The tricky part of this situation is that there is a chance that our fee proposal may not be accepted as it is (it is currently together with all others with “the board” for review and approval!) and considering our history with them certainly a possibility. So do we proceed as being “on board” or do we hold off hard headedly until all administrative matters are settled? If we do that we remain on the side lines to a project that is seemingly moving fast with the potential that a disgruntled client decides to kick us out for non-performance even if that is totally of their own doing! After consultation we have decided to carefully progress with the required work while submitting a disclaimer to the client in regards to our proposal. See how this pans out…these are difficult business decisions to make as from experience I know it can swing either way. It all depends how eagerly we want to be on board…

Light watch 5-110: Meanwhile the Dutch have reached the semi-finals in Brasil! An unfancied but strong squad is getting ready to face Messi’s Argentina…what a game that will be after they started with a great victory over Spain (Van Persie’s goal) and held off a brave Costa Rica with some great safes in the penalty shoot out!