Week Four: Subcontracts Galore
Monday started off feeling like, well, a Monday. I was getting asked to look into assignments that I didn’t have experience with or didn’t have the tools to adequately answer because our primary sources of institutional and procedural knowledge were either on leave, on vacation, off for the day, or working from home. But, the following days picked up and I was tasked with things I knew how to do, had the tools to answer, or had coworkers to ask.
Aside from reading, answering, tracking, and filing a LOT of emails, the theme of this week was subcontracts. I got looped into a supporting a different project, one which has been running for several years. But unfortunately, the FO has not been tracking subcontract payments as diligently as the HO would have hoped. So, I was responsible for sorting through the payments puzzle. This required using a master spreadsheet of the project’s QuickBooks payments from the Finance Department, matching the subcontract-related payments to each subcontract, and looking at the contracts themselves to find the fixed-price ceilings to determine the status of payment on each subcontract. I have not spent much time in excel during my time as a law student, and I felt a great sense of accomplishment in sorting through the puzzle and creating such a useful and necessary tool.
The second subcontract-related issue I worked on was figuring out how to pay an invoice through the home office on a subcontract for PRLP. I confirmed with the FO that the deliverables were received, consulted with finance to prepare and provide them with the necessary documents to process the payment. What’s interesting is the variety in how projects are managed. No two are the same, even though they may have the same organizational foundation. Each project is unique and that is reflected in their budgets, expense reports, invoices, operating plans, reports for the client, client communication and approvals, and so on.
Another first for me this week was leading the process of arranging and booking international travel (to Mexico) for consultants from start to finish. I really feel like I’m starting to get the swing of things now. I’ve had some good exposure to a wide variety of different processes and I’m starting to understand the Tetra Tech DPK way!
This weekend was THE BEST because James visited from NYC where he is working his 2L summer and we got to explore SF together. If you followed my blog last summer, you’ll know James and I met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia while working for Open Development Cambodia and Open Development Mekong. We commuted to and from work every day, shared almost every meal, and traveled all over Cambodia and SE Asia on the weekends. Needless to say, we got to know each other very well, and a few months after returning to the States we started dating. I took Friday off from work to enjoy his company. We had a fabulous time with breakfast at Outlanders then walking along Ocean Beach, up to Lands End. In the afternoon, we walked Market street to the Ferry Building so I could show James the Tetra Tech DPK office. That night we met my sister Kathryn (see Week 1 and Week 5 of Summer 2017), Anthony (see Week 3), and Jenny (see Week 7 of Summer 2017) for dinner. It was a great reunion! Over the rest of the weekend we explored Ghirardelli Square, Fisherman’s Wharf, Home Café, Moraga Steps, Grandview Park, Presidio, Lombard Street, Fort Mason, Golden Gate Park, the Botanical Gardens, Tartine Bakery, Mission, Dolores Park, Foreign Cinema, and Castro. We know how to get around…27 miles on foot, and many more on Muni and Uber/Lyft. From Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam to San Francisco, James is my favorite person to share life and travels with.
