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."