of the second vendor or the third?” Robert looked around the table, inviting input from his team.
“None from me,” Ellen said.
“Nada,” Eddie seconded.
“All good here,” Brad confirmed.
“Seems to me we have a winner,” Robert said. “Taiwan it is. Eddie, engagement?”
As Director of Vendor Engagement, Eddie’s responsibility kicked in the moment a contract was awarded.
“We will have one of my team onsite the entire duration of the contract, and we’ll also need an analyst,” Eddie said, looking at Ellen.
“You got it. I’m giving you Scott.”
“Great, he’s bright and thinks fast on his feet. I like him. He makes a good team with Brent. They can both make arrangements to be onsite within a week.”
“That closes hardware for today,” Jimmy said. “Move on to software?“
“Let’s take a break first,” Robert suggested. “Let’s get coffee.”
Robert needed a minute to collect his thoughts and figure out how he was going to award the contract to ERamSys. Jimmy was going to fight this. Jimmy put a lot of heart in everything he did, and his convictions were strong. Normally, Robert appreciated his strong input because it balanced the team and didn’t allow groupthink to happen. He played the devil’s advocate against any offshoring, and a good one at that, picking and pointing at anything that could impact the quality of delivery for which he was responsible. It’s gonna be tough, but not impossible, Robert thought. Let’s get this over with.
“All right, guys, everyone ready for round two? Let’s get some work done before pizza gets here. Finalists, Jimmy, please?”
Everyone settled in their seats as a new data table appeared on the screen.
“Our shortlisted five consist of one consulting firm from Texas, a major household name, one UK-based software house with offices in the US and over 5,000 American employees, and three companies from India: one in New Delhi, one in Bangalore, and one in Hyderabad.”
“OK,” Robert said, “let’s see preliminary numbers.”
“The technical requirements document calls for the software to be compatible with the tablets, easy to install via cloud, and to incorporate the barcode reader logic for voter registration cards. InfraTech, the NSA appointed vendor in Utah, will build the databases and install the server application at their facilities. InfraTech will test the devices and install the software on all the tablets. The process is kind of clunky, but in the interest of national security the NSA has decided their vendor will handle the installation instead of the tablet manufacturer. InfraTech will receive empty, clean devices with only an operating system installed. They will handle the rest.” Jimmy stopped speaking, then went through his notes. “Development should be complete by August, with plenty of time allotted for quality assurance and test runs with simulated data. The Taiwan hardware vendor will be shipping 200 of their first units to the software vendor to facilitate testing on devices. The software has to be reusable on future elections, so it has to have an administration interface, where you’ll be able to configure future polls and enter the candidates, amendments, or anything else future polls might be about.”
“Thoughts?” Robert called.
“As far as software is concerned, this is not difficult or complex development. It’s actually quite straightforward,” Jimmy said. “Laura checked with our technology expert, and so did I, last week. He confirmed that this shouldn’t be hard at all to achieve.”
“It’s easy for me to gauge performance and progress,” Ellen said. “The requirements and project plan are calling for completion by modules, giving us ample time to correct lateness or sub-par performance. I’m not worried about this contract, regardless of which vendor we choose today.”
“I’m also not concerned with anything else but the strategic dimension of this project,” Brad added. “The project plan contains generous reserves due to the very nature of this project. Change requests might come in the last minute, based on the public’s reaction to this reform or political pressures. Media attention could generate issues we can’t even estimate or foresee at this point. From a project perspective, there is an infinite number of ways this could go terribly wrong.”
Jimmy nodded his head in approval.
“Great,” Robert intervened, “we all knew that, but what else does this risk bring?” He looked around the table, but no one volunteered. “The opportunity to shine, to prove what a fantastic team we are. We’ll think of everything, and we’ll support the e-vote project management team like we’ve never supported a project team before. Our vendors will do great, because we will choose well, we will monitor closely, and we won’t