This is the story of my life so far: 68 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France
The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 90
CR2A had hired me in September 1988 for two reasons: I was a Navy officer and they needed somebody that knew the Navy, and I was somewhat knowledgeable in software, as I had been the computer officer on the Georges Leygues and I have spent two years at the CAD (Centre d'Analyse de Défense), developing software in Ada with the engineers.
As I already said, CR2A had won a contract to assist the DCAN (now Naval Group) to select the subcontractors for the networking computer system of a new tracking ship: the Monge.
The head of the project was a thirty-something engineer who had already some experience in this kind of contract. I don't remember his name.
But there was also a consultant, Monsieur Molar, that was over 70 years old and had spent his whole career in the defense industry. He had an unusual and old-fashioned first name: Amédée.
In the years 1998 to 1990, the Soviet Union was starting to disintegrate, and I remember Mr Molar saying that Russia would eventually find another "strong man" to govern the country. These days, I think that his prophecy had been realized.
The job was to do the following:
Create with the DCAN a document that will describe what the major contractor will have to do for the computer system of the Monge.
Present the job to the different candidates. I believe I made the same presentation 23 times to different companies.
Assist the DCAN to select the main contractor with their subcontractors.
Assist the DCAN to manage the work of the contractor.
We did all this, but we had a surprise during phase 4.
Continue to Part 92
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Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14
Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21
Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28
Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35
Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40 - Part 41 - Part 42
Part 43 - Part 44 - Part 45 - Part 46 - Part 47 - Part 48 - Part 49
Part 50 - Part 51 - Part 52 - Part 53 - Part 54 - Part 55 - Part 56
Part 57 - Part 58 - Part 59 - Part 60 - Part 61 - Part 62 - Part 63
Part 64 - Part 65 - Part 66 - Part 67 - Part 68 - Part 69 - Part 70
Part 71 - Part 72 - Part 73 - Part 74 - Part 75 - Part 76 - Part 77
Part 78 - Part 79 - Part 80 - Part 81 - Part 82 - Part 83 - Part 84
Part 85 - Part 86 - Part 87 - Part 88 - Part 89 - Part 90