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August 12, 2004
Outright Lies
I was reviewing a proposal for a client yesterday, and a question arose about what to do about a resume that was lacking a specific date. The person whose resume was in question could not be reached. So my client wondered if it was OK to make an educated guess about the date. I advised her that I thought it was OK because: (1) the date in question was about 15 years ago; (2) the date was not critical to the resume, since it did not relate directly to the individual's work experience (it was a date during which the individual had served as president of a local association); and (3) it was, in fact, an educated guess based on other information in the resume.
This got me to thinking about an experience I had earlier this year. I was working on a proposal for a client that involved submitting detailed resumes and qualifications for about 35 specialized personnel for a DOD project overseas. Due to the immediacy of DOD's needs, the contract was to be awarded very quicky, and the personnel proposed for the assignment had to be available to depart the US within a week of award. In addition, the RFP specified that all proposed personnel must have secret clearances.
My client was very experienced at recruiting personnel quickly, and had a number of other government contracts. They were able to identify the required number of personnel needed for this project and obtain their resumes. But when all the resumes were rewritten and organized for inclusion in the proposal, my client found that there were several specialists who did not possess the required secret clearances. At that point, it was too late to find replacement personnel.
So what did they decide to do? They decided that they would indicate that every person they proposed had a secret clearance. They put this information at the top of each resume so that it would stand out prominently. Although they didn't say so to me, I believe their thinking was that -- in between the time that the proposal was submitted and the contract awarded -- they would be able to find other personnel with secret clearances to replace the ones who didn't have them. But guess what? They weren't able to do that.
My client was not awarded this contract because their price was too high. But suppose they had been the successful offeror? At some point, the personnel they proposed would have had to produce documentation that verified their secret clearances. And if they couldn't? There is a good possibility that DOD would have cancelled their contract for non-performance and awarded it to another bidder. My client's name and reputation with that particular department within DOD would have been ruined, with their chances of winning a future contract from that same department practically nil.
A bit of exaggeration is one thing, but outright lies -- if they are serious enough -- can get you in big trouble. And as far as the date in the resume is concerned: well, they could always claim it was a typo.
Posted by Deborah at August 12, 2004 10:28 AM
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