With the reverse auction system, we would virtually have had to terminate our relations with the federal government because it would have been impossible to operate that way.
I said earlier that it can take up to three months to train our technicians so that they have thorough knowledge of the products. A photocopier is a complex device. It is a device that scans, faxes, copies and prints. So we need specially trained technicians, who have connectability knowledge. So obtaining a six-month contract — that's what was proposed — that we could have lost at any time would not have been worth the investment. We wouldn't have taken the risk, first of all.
Second, our employees wouldn't have been interested either. How could I have told my employees that I didn't know whether I could still be doing business with the federal government in six months? In those conditions, how could I retain good employees? Definitely not by concealing the truth from them. So have we taken an interest in employee quality? I'm not sure. Currently, we're investing in our labour force by offering training, but am I going to make the investment in order to win a six-month contract? I'm not sure of that either. Are we going to continue offering training on our products or tell our clients that once the photocopier is delivered, the technician will have to do the best he can? That's probably what we would have had to do, eliminate training. That was unthinkable for us.