[sailfast]

Do you think bids would come in negatively for Firm Fixed-Price work. In this case (micro-purchase), you are not allowed to bill again for the same service so the $1 is pretty much where you stop, unless further contract work is pursued which can take months. Genuinely curious.

[Kiro]

Sure, that could be a solution. The problem I see is that any future work is more or less guaranteed to go to the winning company (because of system lock-in, knowledge etc). So if you're a big company who can afford the upfront loss you can still cash in in the future. Having the government as a permanent customer is more or less the dream. I'm no expert though.