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by JumpCrisscross 3157 days ago
> Cost plus percentage gives a very clear incentive to raise costs; that's the only way you can get more profit

Case in point: SpaceX challenging the launch industry's cost-plus culture with publicly-posted fixed prices [1].

[1] http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities
1 comments
DrScump 3157 days ago
Case in point #2: the new Bay Bridge.

Case in point #0: the Space Shuttle (STS).

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JumpCrisscross 3157 days ago
Sorry, you're citing the Space Shuttle [1] as a successful public procurement process?

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/382045main_19%20-%2020090730.11.STS...

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DrScump 3157 days ago
No, my cites relate to the parent comment:

  Cost plus percentage gives a very clear incentive to raise costs
Compare the original winning bid for the STS with the actual costs; I think they rose more than tenfold (and the per-flight cost rose more than that), IIRC.

And had the competing team won, the Challenger disaster never would have happened, because the solid-rocket boosters would have been manufactured as units and transported to the Cape by barge rather than having to be broken into small enough components to fit on rail cars.

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