Chapter 16
Bob called his crew into his suite early the next morning to go over the game plan for presenting their proposal to the ministers. They ordered breakfast delivered to the suite and went over the plans again and again.
The meeting was called for ten o'clock and was to be held in one of the conference rooms in the hotel. Bob kept his eye on the clock as they reviewed the proposal. Finally they all agreed that the proposal was as good as it could be given the tight budget. At fifteen minutes before ten Bob Long stood up and told his crew to bring home a contract.
The four Paladin people walked into the meeting room and found that the room was filled with people already. After everyone was introduced by the Swedish delegation Bob Long introduced his delegation. The Swedish delegation consisted of four engineers and twelve managers and bureaucrats, from both the government and the oil companies that did little but listen intently to everything the minister said and nod occasionally. The minister that was in charge motioned to a man standing at a door off to the side of the conference room and the man ducked out of the room and came back pushing a cart filled with three inch thick manuals.
The minister, Olaf Skoen, stood up, "These are the specifications that we expect your proposal to address. We must insist that every section of the specifications be followed to the letter."
Ann could see Bob's face getting red, "Our proposal is based on the fifteen page letter that paladin received asking for a proposal. I'm very sure that our proposal will meet the specifications but we request that we have time to review them to make sure that our proposal is complete."
Olaf Skoen looked down on the Paladin people, "We have a proposal, from another company, that is considerably under your cost estimate Mr. Long. We have allowed your company to have this meeting to find out where your proposal might differ from the one that has been submitted to us."
For the next two days the oil minister and his delegation ripped apart Paladin's proposal and called attention to the sections of the specifications that Paladin had not addressed. In the evenings Bob and his crew went over the specs and the proposal. Each night they broke up after midnight. On Tuesday afternoon Bob Long asked for and received a copy of the other proposal. The company's name had been torn out and the price was missing. Bob and his crew went over the proposal. It was not as complete as the proposal that paladin had submitted.
On Wednesday morning everybody from Paladin was ready to throw in the towel. It was obvious that the oil ministers had a "Favorite Son' that they wanted to give the contract to. Bob felt that no matter what Paladin proposed it wouldn't be good enough. He got up from the table in his room and told the others to go down to the meeting and that he would be there in a little while.
Ann hung back and motioned for the two engineers to go to the meeting. Bob was staring off into space and didn't notice that she was still in the room.
"Bob, can I talk to you?"
Bob looked up at her, "Go ahead. I can't see spending any more time or money on this proposal. They came into this meeting with the intention of sending us packing without a contract."
"I've been reading the proposal and as much of the specifications as I could. You know that I don't know the security business yet but even I can see that there are big holes in the other proposal. There are a few things that I think should be in our proposal that we didn't include. I'm looking at it from a woman's point of view. I think that this proposal can be saved and I'd like to try it."
Bob looked at her for a long time and Ann thought he was going to blow up at her, "Ok ann. It's time to get your feet wet. Let's go down there and see what you can do. One thing, don't worry abut failing because you can't. We lost the contract before we even landed in Sweden. Whatever you say I will back one hundred percent. Let's go. The meeting is all yours."
Bob and Ann walked into the meeting. John and Paul were desperately trying to salvage the contract. Ann put her hand on John's arm to stop him from talking.
Ann stood up, "Minister Skoen, I have recommended to Paladin Security Sources, Inc. that we withdraw our proposal at this time. I request that we be allowed to withdraw it immediately."
Minister Skoen's lip curled into a sly smile, "May I ask why?"
Ann continued, "Paladin has an impeccable reputation around the world. We have spent hours going over the proposal that you have from the other company and we have decided that we can not match it nor would we want to. There are many holes in the other proposal and we feel that if there is a terrorist attack there will be considerable political fallout and we would not want Paladin to be part of that fallout. The North Sea oil industry is critical to your company's economy and if terrorists hit and are successful I'm afraid the government in power will fall. For that reason I request that any record of Paladin having submitted a proposal be stricken from you government's records. Thank you."
Olaf Skoen looked around the table for support from his delegation but they were trying to make sure that they had nothing to do with the security package from either company.
"Ms. Simmons, what specifically do you feel that we have left out of the proposal?"
Ann stood up again, "Your land based facilities are as secure as it is possible to make them and the oil rigs are fairly secure but your specifications are geared to ensure that you will catch any terrorist that blows up a rig but it does not prevent a terrorist from causing damage to a rig. You must prevent a terrorist from ever getting close enough to a rig to fire a missile. The biggest holes have nothing to do with the oil rigs or the land based facilities. To protect yourself against terrorists you have to think like them. If a terrorist sees that you have security on the rigs and the facilities; they will look to destroy you in some other way. I would go after your executives. Can you imagine the mood of the country if the terrorists held your oil executives for political ransom? If your executives were protected I would go after your children. If you believe that a terrorist wouldn't do that, I remind you of Beslin."
Minister Skoen was turning white, "How would you protect the children?"
"You could have private schools for the children inside of secure facilities and secure daycare centers for the children of employees. Your employees would look on this as a company benefit and it would go a long way to buy their loyalty"
"You want to run our schools for us?" Minister Olaf asked indignantly.
"No sir. I'm sure that your people would not put up with Paladin running your schools and Paladin would not want to do so. We can make the children as secure as possible though."
Olaf Skoen slumped at the table, "This is growing larger than we expected."
"I'm sure that I do not have to describe the mood of the country if terrorists killed a number of your children."
Olaf Skoen's face turned ashen, "Can you follow the specifications?"
Ann smiled sweetly at him, "Would you really want us to? It would seriously drive the cost up. An example is the section that calls for all contacts and wire terminals to be gold plated. That is totally unnecessary. I think that the original proposal should be thrown out and our designers and your designers should work together to create a total security system that does what you intend it to."
"When can you have your designers start on the design?"
Bob Long stood up, "You have two of the top security designers in the world sitting in front of you right now and I can have as many as are necessary here tomorrow. I'd suggest that your people and mine start on it today. After the system is completely designed and it has your stamp of approval we can negotiate the price. The only thing I ask is that the design remains the property of Paladin until we sign the contract."
Olaf Skoen nodded his head, "Will you and Ms. Simmons be staying to work on the design?"
Bob stood up, "Ms. Simmons and I have another meeting to go to but we will be working with our designers. We will have a design team in Sweden and a design team in Virginia. I'd like to break for lunch right now and meet with my people and make sure that they know what is expected of them before I leave. Can we meet back here after lunch?"
Bob didn't wait for an answer. The four people from Paladin walked out of the conference room and followed Bob to the elevator. They were all quiet until the elevator started to move and then John and Paul let out a war whoop.
"Damn Ann, don't ever let me play poker with you," John said.
Ann smiled, "I've never paid poker in my life. I don't even know the object of the game."
John hugged her, "The poker players of the world thank God for that."
"I'm going to leave you two here to start this thing," Bob said, "Just remember that they have a budget. When they propose something make sure that they know that it costs money. Now, who do you want to help you with this?"
John and Paul rattled off several names and Bob told them that he would have the men in Stockholm in two days. John and Paul agreed that they would only have to be in Stockholm for three weeks and then the rest of the design work could be done in Virginia.
Bob suggested that they all go to lunch but John said that he and
Paul would have lunch sent to their room so that they could go over
their notes for the security proposal. Bob nodded and took Ann's arm
and led her out of the suite.