Also depends on the type of contract you have with engineering firms. Most ACMIs that always have their planes "out of base" are simply contracted for daily checks and told to do nothing else. It's frightening to me you can have sunvisors missing and a PTT switch broken for 180 days. I've seen instances where engineering have replaced a broken item with another one on its last legs, and that broken upon next use. They did that I would say deliberately, in order to get another 180 days. There is no requirement it would seem to find a new part or one that is perfectly working. I challenged, nothing.
One time I had a 10 day item cleared on the last day because the wrong peocedure was being advised to crew. It was added again with the "correct" procedure thereby gaining another 10 days. It's this kind of action that makes me want to shove a foot up the regulators ass. I reported to management that our company was not operating within the spirit of the MEL rules, no response till the day I resigned.