[ArkyBeagle]

My understanding is that it's entirely possibly for just the contract pursuit process to overrun a project before one jot of work is expended on actual fulfillment.

That's less likely than in transactions with private companies - although for IT projects...

[mynameismonkey]

I once had a 60 day contract take a year and a half to get signed after I won it. We had to be ready each and every day of that year and a half to start the work...

[ArkyBeagle]

Some friends of mine will probably never actually execute on a contract that's been in the works since 2009. It's not a trifling system, either. And it's done. All that's left is the deployment and whatever paperwork needs to be done after.

one of the guys just soldiered on because he wanted to understand the technology.A few dozen weeks, but still.

They got paid what they could show in time and materials, but that's not the full award.