Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 378 Winning the Major Project!
On March 12, the bidding officially opened, and all primary agents received a notification of the bidding opening.

The bidding results were a huge surprise to everyone; there was only one winning company!
Yan Hui's bid proposal actually shows that he wants to win all the bids! Wasn't it agreed that the three companies would share the spoils?
At this point, many people finally understood what it meant that the tender document stated "a maximum of three companies are allowed to win the bid." However, some people still didn't understand and thought there was something fishy going on.

On the afternoon of the day the bid opening was announced, relevant departments received several letters of complaint. However, these letters were all anonymous and lacked any substantive evidence; they merely suggested procedural problems.

In any case, having a report is a bit of a hassle.

According to Article 3 of the Implementing Regulations of the Bidding Law, if a bidder or other interested party has any objection to the bid evaluation results, they should raise it during the public announcement period of the winning candidate. The procuring entity shall respond within three days of receiving the objection; before responding, it shall suspend the bidding process. "Objection" here includes reports or complaints.

In other words, even if the report is anonymous and lacks evidence, Yan Hui still has to provide an explanation.

Yan Hui was prepared for this. He'd been busy these past few days preparing and refining his materials, just waiting for these people to report him. He'd seen this kind of behavior many times before; he was ready to take the fall himself. This was nothing compared to what was to come.
To be on the safe side, Yan Hui left his BMW at the company and had Li Pengfei drive the Audi he had prepared for Chen Jian.

Liu Wei's child is already six months old, and she is free to take care of the child. There is a nanny and a postpartum nanny at home to accompany her. Liu Wei also occasionally goes to the company to check on things.

Chen Jian still feels pressure regarding the research and development of new polyurethane. These past few days, Yan Hui gave Chen Jian a bonus of 60 yuan, making Chen Jian feel both elated and burdened with new pressure.

For the chemical industry to consistently make money, there are only two paths: large scale and leading technology.

There are only these two paths.

Alternatively, like Wanhua, it could establish a leading position by producing 3 million tons of MDI annually, becoming an industry giant. Even if newcomers use the same technology, their costs would be more than 30% lower than Wanhua's (its 2008 production capacity was several hundred thousand tons).

Alternatively, they can become technologically dominant in a niche product category. For example, a certain specialty adhesive from Henkel can still sell for two yuan per gram by 2025.

Yan Hui's current production capacity is around one to two thousand tons per year, while the national production capacity of polyurethane adhesives is only twenty to thirty thousand tons. After all, polyurethane adhesives are a very small category, while MDI is a raw material with extremely wide applications.

The market characteristics of polyurethane adhesives mean that large-scale production is not feasible, so competing on technology is the key.

Chen Jian hardly uses a car anymore. Yan Hui told him to leave the BMW at the company for a few days and drive the Audi to do business.

A day later, Yan Hui received a call from the relevant department, asking him to come and explain the issues with the complaint. Yan Hui replied, "I can be there in half an hour. The materials are ready. I wonder if there is parking available in the yard?"

"It's convenient. Just tell me your license plate number, and I'll tell the security guard." The leader didn't make things difficult for Yan Hui over such a small matter.

"Thank you, this will make things faster for me. I'll be there soon," Yan Hui said.

Actually, Yan Hui wasn't afraid of being seen by others; he was asking this question to gauge the other party's attitude. If the other party was serious and disagreed, it meant the pressure of this inquiry would be quite high; if the other party agreed, it meant it was just a formality.

Twenty minutes later, an Audi quietly entered the compound of a government agency. Yan Hui followed the relevant personnel to a small conference room. Most of the materials needed were listed in the tender documents, and Yan Hui took them out one by one and placed them on the table.

“I’ve looked at what you said when you participated in the bidding, and I’ve also looked at your quote. To be honest, I think there’s no problem with the procedure in choosing you,” the leader said frankly. “This bidding process was very strictly supervised from top to bottom. We called you here because we hope you will be sensible and not provide substandard steel for the sake of profit.”

"Boss, I'll cover the freight and loading/unloading costs. I've calculated that each shipment of steel is three to four thousand tons. I'll advance the full amount, and the payment will be received in half a month. I know you have recordings here, so I guarantee that I will bear full responsibility for any quality issues. If there's a problem with one batch of goods, you can hold onto the payment for that batch, and I'll continue to advance the funds to deliver the second batch."

"You're so confident?" The leader was taken aback; such a guarantee was something most people wouldn't dare to make.

"I hope to become a top-tier steel distributor in Jinan. This collaboration is my first time participating in a government tender, and I hope to provide better service so that I can be given priority when prices are similar in the future," Yan Hui said frankly.

People shouldn't be too pretentious. Business transactions always have ulterior motives, so just say it openly and honestly.

"Yes, we need to further investigate the allegations. We may contact you at any time before the public announcement period ends," the leader said again.

"Understood, anytime." Yan Hui nodded.

He had expected to be questioned or subjected to some interrogation techniques during this trip, but he encountered none of that. The leaders treated him very politely, clearly indicating their approval of him as a supplier.

There's absolutely no need to resort to intimidation and threats against a supplier who will be supplying 40,000 tons of steel to a large stadium in the future. Although this leader isn't in charge of the project, he had already communicated with the project leader.

They went outside, got into the car, and the Audi quickly left the compound and disappeared down the street.

The image of Audi as an official car for government departments is already established, so Audis are extremely inconspicuous when entering and leaving such places, and Yan Hui did not notice anyone paying attention to him.

Back at the company, Yan Hui worked as usual for a few days and successfully passed the public announcement period, officially becoming the sole supplier for the project.

After the public announcement period ended, Yan Hui immediately went to the construction department to complete all the procedures, and then contacted Laiwu Steel to order the first batch of goods.

The required steel here is 4.3 tons. Yan Hui's first order was 4300 tons, totaling over 1500 million yuan. After the agreement was finalized with Laiwu Steel, the money was quickly transferred. The steel mill's account has a daily turnover of hundreds of millions of yuan, so tens of millions of yuan is really nothing.

Once the project was secured, the later stages were quite simple. Yan Hui found Song Zhiyuan and transferred three people to Wang Yongjun's management to oversee the steel handover for the project. All goods had to be carefully inspected, tracked from start to finish, and related services and video recordings were essential to ensure thorough documentation.

From the very first chemical transport, Yan Hui has had a requirement to "leave a record of the work," and now everyone is used to it.

(End of this chapter)