eurekapd Chapter 171 Bidding
Chapter 171 Bidding
The conference room was filled with five rows of folding chairs, about two-thirds of which were occupied. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling hummed, and the cabinet air conditioner in the corner blew out a musty-smelling cold draft.
Ling Yun and Zhao Weiguo sat in the fourth row, near the aisle. Zhao Weiguo had a black folder on his lap containing a copy of Xinghuo Technology's tender documents. Ling Yun held an unopened bottle of mineral water.
The door was pushed open, and three people walked in.
The man at the front wore a navy blue suit with a crisply starched white shirt collar. He glanced around the conference room, his gaze lingering on Ling Yun for half a second, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
This is Wu, the sales director of Yixiang Computer. Lingyun had seen his photo in the files.
Director Wu sat down in the first row with two subordinates. Before sitting down, he deliberately pulled his chair back, the metal legs scraping against the tiled floor, making a harsh sound. Everyone in the conference room looked up at him.
"Oh, Mr. Ling is here too." Director Wu turned around and said in Ling Yun's direction, "So, you've come to join in the fun today?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it was just loud enough for people in the three rows in front and behind to hear.
Ling Yun unscrewed the mineral water bottle, took a sip, smiled knowingly, and didn't reply.
Zhao Weiguo's fingers tightened on the folder.
"We're absolutely determined to win this project," Director Wu continued, his voice still the same volume, addressing his two subordinates. "The provincial education department has already given us their approval. Who can compete with the solution from the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences?"
His young subordinate on the left, who was wearing glasses, nodded in agreement: "Mr. Wu is right, our localization rate is the highest in the industry."
"That's right." Director Wu took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his briefcase, pulled one out, didn't light it, just twirled it between his fingers. "Some companies, they just put together a rebranded machine, assemble an open-source system, and dare to call themselves domestically produced. What a joke."
Someone in the back row coughed.
Director Wu turned around and looked directly at Ling Yun.
"Mr. Ling, I'm being blunt, please don't take offense. In our line of work, it all comes down to real skills. Your... Starry Sky system, is it a modified version of Linux?"
"It's based on an open-source kernel and was developed independently," Ling Yun said calmly.
"Independently developed." Director Wu laughed, the kind of laugh that goes out loud. "That sounds nice. It's just taking someone else's stuff, making some changes, and giving it a new look."
Zhao Weiguo tried to stand up, but Ling Yun reached out and pressed his arm down.
"The bidding process is based on a comprehensive score." Ling Yun stared into Director Wu's eyes, grinned, and said, "Technical solutions, price, service, and case studies—each item has its weight."
"Weight?" Director Wu held a cigarette in his mouth but didn't light it. "President Ling, you're too young. Don't you know what has the highest weight in business in China?"
He paused, lowered his voice, but it was still loud enough for those around him to hear:
"It's a relationship."
The meeting room fell completely silent, and the sound of the air conditioner became exceptionally clear.
Just then, staff from the bidding center walked in. Three people, carrying several boxes of documents. Leading the group was a woman in her forties, wearing thin-rimmed glasses.
"Representatives from all bidding units, please come forward and sign in," she said. "The bid opening will be at 9:30 sharp."
Director Wu was the first to stand up and walk to the registration desk. When he signed, he used a gold pen, his wrist moving very slowly, as if he were practicing calligraphy.
After signing in, he didn't return to his seat, but instead stood in front chatting with the staff.
"Section Chief Wang, are all the review experts here today?"
"arrive."
"These are all old acquaintances, right? These are the same experts who worked on the provincial public security department's project last time."
The female staff member addressed as Section Chief Wang did not respond; she simply kept her head down, organizing the documents.
Director Wu didn't seem to mind and continued standing there. His two subordinates had moved to the second row, leaving him the middle seat in the first row.
Ling Yun and Zhao Weiguo went to sign in. When Zhao Weiguo signed, his pen trembled slightly, leaving a small blot of ink on the paper.
"Nervous?" Ling Yun asked.
"A little."
"Don't worry, the outcome of the bidding doesn't depend on how you perform at the bid opening, it's all determined by how you behave off-site. We are the winners today." Ling Yun smiled mysteriously, without a trace of worry.
They returned to their seats, and Zhao Weiguo opened the folder and looked at the price list again. Xinghuo Technology's price was 427 million, 53 lower than their budget. They couldn't guess the price from Yixiang Computer, but it was definitely lower.
At 9:25, the expert judges entered. There were five of them, all men, aged between forty and sixty. They sat down on the stage, with name tags and score sheets in front of them.
Director Wu raised his hand in the front row and nodded to one of the experts. The expert nodded back, albeit slightly.
Zhao Weiguo noticed this small gesture and nudged Ling Yun's arm.
Lingyun saw it, but didn't react.
The bid opening procedure began. Section Chief Wang read out the instructions quickly, as if reciting a text. Then came the inspection of the sealing of the bid documents.
The documents from Xinghuo Technology were packaged in blue envelopes, while those from Yixiang Computer were in red. When the staff placed the documents from both companies side by side on the table, the red stack was noticeably thicker than the blue one.
"Let's begin the bidding process," said Section Chief Wang. "We'll start with the technical bids, then the commercial bids."
She opened the first envelope; it was from the Fantasy Computer.
"Bidding Entity: Yixiang Computer Co., Ltd. Technical Solution Score..."
She gave him a number. Zhao Weiguo jotted it down in his notebook, his eyes lighting up—the score was lower than he had expected.
Next up is the technical segment from Spark Technology.
When the scores were announced, Director Wu suddenly turned his head and glanced at Ling Yun. Xinghuo Technology's technical score was 1.5 points higher than Yixiang's.
"In terms of comprehensive technical solutions, Xinghuo Technology ranks first," Section Chief Wang announced.
Director Wu's face darkened. He took out his phone, pressed a few keys, and then put it back in his pocket.
Next came the commercial bid. The staff opened the package in front of everyone, and Section Chief Wang announced the price.
"Imagine computer, priced at 398 million yuan."
A murmur of discussion rippled through the conference room. This price was 82 yuan lower than the budget, practically at cost.
Zhao Weiguo clenched his fist.
"Spark Technology, asking price: 427 million yuan."
The difference is 29.
Director Wu leaned back in his chair, that smile returning to his lips. He turned to his subordinate beside him and said, "Price is the only real factor. Some companies come up with a bunch of fancy technologies, then quote such high prices—who's going to buy them?"
This sentence was still kept at a volume that could just reach the fourth row.
Business scores began to be calculated, and because the price of the Fantasy was much lower than that of the Spark, their business scores quickly surpassed the Spark's.
"Currently, the overall rankings," Section Chief Wang said, looking at the calculator, "are as follows: Fantasy Computer is first, and Spark Technology is second."
Director Wu took out a lighter and this time he actually lit the cigarette. Smoking was prohibited in the conference room, but no one stopped him; the bluish-gray smoke drifted in the air conditioning.
"And the service label," Zhao Weiguo said in a low voice.
"Um."
Director Wu turned to look at Ling Yun, his expression full of provocation and confidence.