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by bsder 2059 days ago
Actually, you find that almost all of this stuff is transferral of future cash to current time.

Any multiyear project has political ramifications and your funding could get pulled. Better to be short on staff and bill overtime now rather than have have lots of staff and then get your funding pulled later.
1 comments
thrav 2059 days ago
That’s an interesting point. You’re asserting that the fear of government funding falling through is what drives this behavior?

Any input on the impact of guarantees? Is this not something we do? Is it irrelevant because if funding isn’t there, they evaporate?

(I don’t know anything about how this actually works)

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bsder 2059 days ago
> Any input on the impact of guarantees? Is this not something we do? Is it irrelevant because if funding isn’t there, they evaporate?

A lot of government contracting is about the process of extracting the money. Multi-year contracts can be particularly fraught with risk--Can a lawsuit shut you down? Will some Senator come shake you down to score "See how much money I just saved us?" points. Did some other project supersede your priority? Did a budget shortfall take 15% out of everybody?

It is simply smart behavior to front load payments and back load execution if you are a company dealing with the government. If you get really lucky, you bank a bunch of money, don't do anything, and then the project gets canned. If you get really unlucky, you bank the money, don't do anything, and then the project flares up in importance and you get slammed by the now looming deadline (see: the original ACA government website debacle).

Some if it is also that companies will optimize to the rules. Do bids go to lowest bidder always? Okay, then the companies will optimize to low bid and charge through the roof for change orders. Is the company responsible for maintenance? If not, then you can be sure that the project will be built to the absolute minimum quality that can be countenanced and leave the maintenance nightmare to somebody else.

You get what you actually incentivize even if it isn't what you necessarily wanted.

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