There are some days when I wonder why I ever got into this business. Yesterday was one of those days. I spoke with my law firm client whom I hadn't heard from since the middle of last week. She has spent the past several days trying to figure out which of the personnel that her firm proposed a year ago for a government project actually have the qualifications that the government wants.
After hanging on to bidders' proposals FOR A FULL YEAR, the government finally contacted all of the bidders and asked them to submit revised proposals. Instead of telling each bidder exactly how their original proposal was deficient, the government apparently issued many of the same vague deficiency statements to all of them. So instead of saying something like this:
"John Smith does not appear to have 10 years of relevant work experience."
They have said something to the effect that:
"The team of people that your firm proposed for Task 1 do not have the required minimum qualifications. The team of people that your firm proposed for Task 2 do not have the required minimum qualifications. The team of people that your firm proposed for Task 3 do not have the required minimum qualifications..." And so on.
Moreover, in an amendment issued a year after proposals were submitted, the government set forth additional or revised qualifications that each category of personnel must have. They also changed the criteria for other (non-personnel) sections of the technical proposal. Then yesterday, the government issued another amendment that contained answers to bidders' questions and additional instructions on how to submit complete revised proposals.
It's all quite complicated and confusing and makes me wonder why any firm would want do business with the government when they have to put up with this nonsense.
Do you pay taxes? If you do, this is some of what you're paying for.
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