The time we tried for a government contract

So B2 has it in her mind that the best way to save the company is to be awarded government contracts. This is despite the fact that they would only give a small burst of money and doesn’t really lead to other clients. B2 also believes that she is the best person in the company to write these proposals for contracts and refuses to allow anyone to help her. This is because she is so good at writing them – in the last 2 years, she has applied to 8 different government contracts and has got zero of them. She once had someone else write the proposal and was awarded that contract – that is the only contract we’ve ever received.

Since I’ve been working here, we’ve applied to 2 different contracts. The first one was in January. Now, the application had to be in Ottawa by 5 pm on a Thursday. B2 did not start the proposal until the Monday. She told me that she had to pull some “all-nighters” during the week to finish it for Thursday. The government gives you about 4-6 weeks to put together these proposals so you can image it can be difficult to start any earlier than the week of. On the Thursday, she ended up flying up to Ottawa as it was cheaper for her to book a last minute flight and hand deliver it than have a courier take it to the Ottawa on the day of. The money she spent flying up there would be a percentage of the money we’d make if we got it. We didn’t get it and B2 through a fit where she yelled or didn’t speak to nearly everyone in the company.

Our latest foray into winning a government contract led to calling a courier at 11:45 am when it had to be in Niagara Falls by 2 pm. That meant the courier had the exact amount of time it takes to drive with no stops. In the instructions for the proposal, it clearly stated that the proposal had to be less than 10 pages. B2 told me she decided to ignore it as 1. it didn’t really apply to her proposal and 2. she didn’t have to follow that rule cause she was so good at the proposals. Needless to say, we did not get that contract. If it says it has to be less than 10 pages, the government won’t even read it cause you can’t follow instructions! When B2 found it, things went into shit storm territory.

She called B1 and I into her office to tell us that by her doing these proposals she was the only one in the company trying to bring in sales and that everyone might have to take a pay cut next week. She then overheard E and I talking about non work related things. She called E into her office to tell him if he was not talking about work, he was not to talk. She then proceeded to ignore all the other staff for the rest of the day.

In cause you were wondering, why doesn’t she ask for help on these proposals or if she doesn’t want help how can she blame all of the other staff for it failing or if she’s so good at this why does she never win the answer is: it is never her fault that she does not win contracts or that sales have fallen or that her proposals don’t get in more than 10 minutes before the deadline. It is never B2’s fault!