Company Contracts

[zumbahlenm]

I have a question that im wondering yall could help me with.  
I see there are plenty of jobs listings for individuals but are there any company job listings.  For instance I work for a company that specializes in pump repair.  Do plants make online posts for help to contract out a job to overhaul their pumps?
Maybe some people who have been procurement agents or maintenance managers could help answer this.

[Rennhack]

No.

[zumbahlenm]

They must do something, I couldn't imagine all that business by just word of mouth..

[GLW]

AVL

NDA

RFSOQ

RFQ

RFP

RFx

Sole Source

BOA

PO

LOI/LOU

MOA/MOU

PUCL

UC&A

BP&S

eBideX

If these acronyms are outside your LOK you are in over your head and/or whoever is tasking you with this is not playing fair.

If these acronyms are within your LOK you now have enough of what you need to pursue the next step.

good luck,...

[zumbahlenm]

I know some of those acronyms but they are just items related to contracts, not how to obtain or search for plants that need work.  Maybe there are acronyms that do but I guess I dont know those ones.

I only ask because we just got a recirc pump job differed and put about 40 people out of spring work.  I have been working with my boss in the company to try and replace this work.  He is not computer savy and asked me to look around online to see if there is potential work to bid on.  All of our work is word of mouth.  He has plenty of contacts with maintenance managers that contain recurring work.  We would like to employ more people with more work.  We do about 5-8 outages a year with a decent size mechanic turn key staff at each plant.
If you know any further way to bid jobs and put some employees to work that would be great.
Thank You.

[Fluffy Bunny]

And if you could tell me what price I should bid it, that would be helpful too.

[zumbahlenm]

damn dude, jus trying to put people back to work..I think I get the idea you guys are making.

[retired nuke]

damn dude, jus trying to put people back to work..I think I get the idea you guys are making.

My understanding of the process for Utilities putting work out for bid -

They have a list of approved vendors / service companies. These are companies that either have a history with the company, come recommended by industry peers, or that have applied to be approved vendors. Not sure how you do that. If you are currently performing work as an approved vendor somewhere, see if their procurement / contract group has contacts at other utilities. They may share the info if you have a good record with them.

Good luck, and thanks for trying to put people to work.

[Already Gone]

What I hope you understand is that this is an issue of quality.
If I am a Maintenance or Procurement Manager at a power plant, and I have a broken pump, or a scheduled PM on something, I can't just put out a web posting that says, "who wants to fix this?"
Could you imagine the sheer number of responses that would come in from companies and individuals who couldn't possibly do the job?
This isn't U-ship, where any yahoo with a pickup truck can underbid everybody else and deliver your goods.  Likewise, any yahoo with tools isn't going to be qualified to do the work that these people need to have done.
Since your outfit is qualified for some of this work, you are the kind of people they want to send in bids to them, but they don't know that until you tell them.  You need to get on the phone with these guys and start the process to become a qualified bidder.
First, you have to sell your company.  You should only have to do this once for each customer.  Your boss must have done this before, so the trail is blazed for you.  Then, you can sell them your services.   Once you are an approved vendor or qualified bidder,you will be invited to submit bids for work that you have been qualified to bid on.
My guess is that your boss isn't going to ask you to do any of that.  What he's probably looking for you to do is find him some contact info for plants where he can submit his bona fides.
That is something you can get help with here.
Go up to the facility info tab.
Start cold calling sites to ask for the Maintenance Manager and/or Procurement Manager.  If you can't get to them, no problem; their admin staff will be more useful to you anyway.  Briefly ask them how, where, and to whom you submit your qualifications to become an approved vendor/qualified bidder. 
Get a name, address, phone number, email address, and fax number for each.  Ask them to send you the package.  There is always a package of forms that they will need you to submit and a checklist.
Good luck.

[zumbahlenm]

Yes thats right. Thank you.
My boss has numerous contacts of maint managers in which he uses for reoccurring business as well as new customers.  Having additional contacts and being able to let them know we can be qualified bidders is a great idea.

[HeavyD]

The process for getting added as an approved vendor also includes an audit, performed by the site's QS group, of the requesting vendor.  Compliance with 10CFR50 Appendix B, NQA-1, etc, as well as a thorough going over of in-process controls, NDE/NDT, documentation, procedural compliance, regulatory and industry standard compliance, etc.  This is required for a vendor that will be performing work on any safety-related components. 

[zumbahlenm]

Is that a requirement for every site or would one approval be good for entire company.  For instance we replaced River Bends Recirc pump for Entergy, but would we need to fulfill those same requirements for another Entergy site or would it be covered because of the project we did there along with other Entergy pump rebuilds..

[Already Gone]

You're not likely to have to duplicate all that for multiple sites owned by the same customer.  But, you might have to prove insurance, workers' comp, and such things if you cross into another state.

In fact, the hardest part is the first time.  Once you have gone through all those processes one time, it is a lot easier to do it again.

[azkidd]

Flowserve is the Contractor who has the lock on the industry as far as servicing, and refurbishing pumps, seals, etc.  They are probably the only preferred vendor.  They have used Powerhouse as a subcontractor a time or two.  That is probably your only opportunity for work, is to subcontract through Flowserve.  All their work is warranteed, and as long as that warantee is in effect, any work or troubleshooting requires Flowserve to be present.  The pump you replaced at Riverbend was a Flowserve pump.  You subcontracted to do the work through Flowserve. 

[zumbahlenm]

We subcontracted River Bends pump through Sulzer not Flowserve.

We rarely subcontract through Flowserve, if we do its only because a job was sole sourced otherwise we get the direct contract.  They are becoming less of the preffered vendor from the people we talk to because of their lack of quality hence our reoccurring work.  We have plenty of opportunity for work without subcontract to them.  We do 5-8 outages a year direct contract.

[BetaAnt]

Get listed in the Nuclear Plant Journal. The vendor catalog comes out in the spring. Buy ads in trade mags. GET YOUR NAME KNOWN!

BA