Ten Stupid Contractor Tricks and How to Avoid Them

ou negotiated hard. You spent days and nights working on the bid. Now you’ve signed the paperwork and it’s going to happen. Or is it?

Of the many post-mortems (note that the word “mortem” is Latin for “death”) in which I’ve participated, the lessons learned ranged from easy (we needed more coffee) to tough (several hundred thousand dollars in rework, three employee terminations, post-arbitration litigation pending, and even sliced tires).

I’ve worked with great professionals with credentials from the Project Management Institute, as well as many “old salt” program managers. A commonality between them is not only keeping their eye on the ball—the goals of the projects and programs—but also ensuring that contractor eyes are looking at the same balls and therefore, goals. Some contract management processes require constant realignment, while others are surprisingly smooth.

The basic facts of contract management are that they follow time-lines that mesh skill sets from two or more organizations. The life of a contract and its contractor are about the life and work described by the contract, its impact, then “goodbye.” Call it lifecycle because in many ways, it’s a living document. With perseverance, tenacity, and clear instructions, many projects start, work, and everything’s accomplished according to plan. The contract lived a good life. Others, however, had something change in the middle, perhaps expected, or unexpected. This is about preparing yourself for both kinds of changes: expected and unexpected.

Program and project management personnel have seen a lot of interesting contractor tricks. Some involved bid/tender execution basics. Others are more novel and ingenious. We’ll cover the top ten.

Contractor Trick #1: Contractor turnover causing additional costs through constant retraining.

The trick was a possible “bait-and-switch” between possible work candidates and the ones actually supplied. There are multiple possible solutions.

During the bid/tender phase, discover the typical turnover rates for individuals in the work categories that you need. If it’s possible – and sadly, it rarely is — try to learn what the certifications were for the individuals. Some contracting organizations have a cadre of high profile, experienced, and highly certified staff working for them. But these individuals are “mastheads” and give you the perception that these individuals may work for you. Watch for re-orgs just after the onset of the contract period.

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