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Harris County Texas Terminates ICF as Disaster Recovery Contractor

There are always two-sides to every story, but...

This is not the type of news article that you want in the news about your company or your services, see 13 Investigates: Harris Co. fires company paid $1.3M for Harvey recovery program.

Where is the truth of the matter? Likely somewhere in between the different perspectives offered in the article. The really bad news is for ICF (somewhere I used to work). They won't get a positive reference out of having that contract and they will never be able to use it as what we called it in the biz as a "qual," showing similar work experience. Note that "officially" ICF's contract with Harris County was terminated for convenience, rather than performance. The difference I'm not totally sure of, but less likely to have to "prove" non-performance. Note that ICF remains a contractor for the City of Houston. 

Recovery work by contractors has become big business for consulting firms. I believe Hagerty Consulting has the (or a) recovery contract for the 2017 California fires. 

Bottom line is, if you want more work, you have to make the current customer happy. Even if they are in the wrong! Something I learned selling women's shoes at Marshall Fields in Oak Park, Ill. The customer is always right. "Would you like to exchange those shoes or would you rather have a refund?"

This blog post was updated on 12-12-19.

Eric Holdeman is a contributing writer for Emergency Management magazine and is the former director of the King County, Wash., Office of Emergency Management.