Chapter 12 - Project Aegis Returned Without Grant
Nearly a year after the dinner, Project Aegis returned to formal
evaluation.
Whitmore Defense submitted a corrected proposal.
So did two competitors.
Evelyn was no longer on the selection team.
She learned the result through official channels at the same time as
everyone else.
The acquisition was divided.
No single contractor received the entire six-hundred-million-dollar
scope.
Whitmore won one production segment after meeting revised requirements.
Another company won integration work.
A third received testing support.
The government’s final structure reduced concentration risk and produced
clearer pricing.
Grant’s prediction that one contract would secure his family for three
generations never came true.
But Whitmore Defense did not disappear.
Thousands of employees who had nothing to do with Grant’s conduct kept
their jobs.
Evelyn was glad.
She had never wanted workers punished for an executive’s decisions.
Colonel Reed stopped by her office.
“You know people are going to tell this story wrong.”
“They already do.”
“They’ll say you killed a six-hundred-million-dollar deal because a CEO
insulted you.”
“I know.”
“Does that bother you?”
Evelyn thought about it.
“A little.”
Then she looked at the final procurement summary.
“But the file tells the truth.”
Reed smiled.
“That may be the most acquisition-officer answer I’ve ever heard.”
She laughed.
The file did tell the truth.
Concerns predated the dinner.
Review involved multiple officials.
Findings were documented.
Corrective action followed evidence.
May you like
Grant’s insult made the story dramatic.
It did not make the procurement decision.
