-- I made my case for VFP and his response was "well, my problem is, if this project is even one week late, my boss will have my head because I went with FoxPro, no matter what the real cause." I think he understood and agreed with all my points, but he just wasn't The Right Guy to sign off on it so there wasn't much we could do. I don't know who your contact is, but hopefully it's someone who can help turn the tide.

This is the way it sometimes is. An in-house IT department, with VB programmers, is looking to hire a contractor to do a job they can't do. And then they make the argument that it needs to be done in something other than VFP, cause their boss will have their heads if it's late. What happens if it's late in VB. Obviously they've failed with VB, and any solution in VFP might mean they'll have to look for work.

1) Assure them VFP can do all that VB can do (unless they're just building Active X controls)
2) Plus it has a record pointer to navigate through those SQL parsed cursors.
3) Research the job boards - I could not beleive how many big movers in the world are use using VFP. Get some examples of companies that use it
4) Give them references.

Some in IT guys make a living justing keeping management confused. If incompetence has managements ears - the battle is hard.

You could offer to develop a piece of the project at your own expense iow: a sample module, (make sure the boss knows), and then once you've solved it and do your show and tell. If they like, your in. Give them a battle plan. Write a requirement analysis, a proposal for specifications and a delivery schedule - and program till your knuckles fall off.

BTW: I have done projects where I was paid at delivery. It's hard: But after that the client was like butter on toast. And they were a good reference.
Take heart in the fact that Corporate IT departments are not neccessarily the Mecca of system development. They're usually just there to make management feel good.