Contract engineering question
Contract engineering question
(OP)
I work as a contract engineer with multiple customers. This year has been tough as we've lost some work from several clients the area I work in. I was notified today that one of my contracts will not be renewed, with the chief issue being price. I have no control over price.
If you have a contract with a company and they decide not to renew it due to pricing (i.e. not due to poor work or not meeting the requirements) is it unethical for them to make this decision without allowing your company to make a counteroffer? In particular I believe we were underbid by a competitor who is friends with the decision maker at my client.
I enjoy working with this client, I believe in the past year when new management took over at my client, it became more apparent that they had an interest in bringing their friend who used to work directly in my position before leaving several years ago back.
I have no control over my contract pricing, so my boss would negotiate, but I'm a little concerned because my boss wasn't given a chance to negotiate a renewed contract.
This all took place at the end of the business day today, and my boss would like to meet with the client next week to negotiate.
If you have a contract with a company and they decide not to renew it due to pricing (i.e. not due to poor work or not meeting the requirements) is it unethical for them to make this decision without allowing your company to make a counteroffer? In particular I believe we were underbid by a competitor who is friends with the decision maker at my client.
I enjoy working with this client, I believe in the past year when new management took over at my client, it became more apparent that they had an interest in bringing their friend who used to work directly in my position before leaving several years ago back.
I have no control over my contract pricing, so my boss would negotiate, but I'm a little concerned because my boss wasn't given a chance to negotiate a renewed contract.
This all took place at the end of the business day today, and my boss would like to meet with the client next week to negotiate.





RE: Contract engineering question
RE: Contract engineering question
RE: Contract engineering question
I don't think that is something you can ever win. If your boss can negotiate a deal that does not result in a pay cut at your end, I'd go with the flow, help him out from the background but otherwise act as if nothing out of the ordinary is going on.
RE: Contract engineering question
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: Contract engineering question
TTFN
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RE: Contract engineering question
Whilst some people will offer you the chance to lower your price to match or beat another quote others see it as getting into a bidding war and will not do it, do you know for sure if they asked the last time the contract was up for renewal will you renegotiate the price and your boss just said no?
I would guess most of us like to work with people we know and trust, one mans old boys network is another mans networking contacts.
RE: Contract engineering question
I don't expect things to turn out our way. Our company seems less willing to negotiate and we have lost work in the area because of it. I just want to ensure that i will not have to move anytime soon for a new position.
RE: Contract engineering question
RE: Contract engineering question
I used to solicit bids for engineering/contracting work. Your bid was your offer to my company to provide a service. I felt it was unethical of me to then go back to bidders and ask them to "review" their bids and see if they wanted to "revise" them. (Were revisions ever going to be higher?) You had your chance to provide me with your best deal, and we both lived with the results.
Without knowing the specifics of your situation, it seems if would have been fair to announce that this coming contract would be open to bids; however, we don't know all that happened-maybe the company was not happy with the work, or the billing practices, or who knows what.
RE: Contract engineering question
RE: Contract engineering question
Government procurements often do that, asking for a "Best and Final" offer.
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RE: Contract engineering question
RE: Contract engineering question
It's particularly frustrating in my case because i have zero control over my contract pricing.