You Won the Contract! Now What??

Sometimes the best way to illustrate a best path or provocative thought on a topic is to tell a story.

A little more than 20 years ago, I was part of a team working on a defense program that was delivering a completely new aircraft to our U.S. Military. This new defense platform would serve two branches: the Army and Air Force.

The program was for a new air-to-ground surveillance aircraft. It would be able to see in any direction for about 300 miles (unclassified-ish) and would be able to identify people and equipment. The large contractor that won the program moved into an existing, relatively new facility in Lake Charles, LA. They set-up shop and went to work hard and fast.

Soon after, it was announced that another large contractor would be merging with the first contractor. They would come together at the Louisiana facility and work together to deliver this unprecedented platform to our military. Certainly a happy marriage with great profits and comradery would be next!

. . . not really. .

For the next 1 1/2 years, no aircraft were delivered. Production problems became so serious that one aircraft in particular had a tail section over 3 feet out of spec which is unacceptable for even a heavy plane. A few unspoken altercations occurred on different parts of the plant. Emotions were high and morale dropped through the floor. System integration was failing and the ability for departments to just communicate effectively broke down. It was a multi-hundred-million dollar mess. For a while.

Eventually when common sense and the willingness to collaborate and win overcame the egos and hangar sized mistakes, the company elevated. Not only did we start delivering aircraft on time but we started hitting the interim milestones (which involved getting paid on time!)

I could honestly make this story longer and reveal quite a bit more color for the interested reader but I want to keep everyone else awake and bring it home.

Working 12 hour days with all hands on deck to win a contract then actually winning it, further translates into the next event for which you must now deliver, it's showtime. And if you are merging with another company for all the right reasons, you must know that the likelihood that it will go smoothly is, well, not likely. These events are what we call "surge events". In these scenarios, it is not winning the contract or even performing later that is most important. It is the detail in the middle. The gearing up and preparing to deliver your valuable goods and services to a client who expects you to be at your best. It's the part in the middle that you can't afford to not perform on.

Instead of hiring temporary staff or even permanent staff that will have to be reassigned, hire a Surge Partner: a firm that can come in, manage your project effectively with very experienced staff and skill sets that cover you from IT to Accounting to full Operations. The wave of the future remains in technology and sophisticated processes and software to propel you to the next level in your company and industry; and ahead of your competition.

Intellectual Capital Advisors is that Surge Partner. We are in this with you.

For the interested reader, here is the program I spoke of, and by the way,

Go Army! Fly Air Force!

Joint Stars E-8C

$245 Million/Aircraft

+$4.5 Billion Contract

Contractor 1 - Grumman Aircraft

Contractor 2 - Northrop Corporation

Test Platforms - Aircraft 1 thru 3, St. Augustine, Florida

Production Run - Aircraft 1 thru 19, Lake Charles, Louisiana