Originally Posted by
Saintsman
How many contracts have been won with the provider knowing full well that the requirements are not going to work?
Fixing them is always going to cost extra and companies know that far too well. Bid low and bump up the price later, once the contract has been won.
I’ve also had contracts where the customer did not know what they really wanted. They knew roughly, but left us to come up with the specifications. They were good.
How many contracts...? Very many I'm afraid. But you have to realise that companies dare not complain too hard about poor contracts, less they be blacklisted. I've seen that many times. They'll reply to an invitation to tender saying 'This doesn't make sense, do you not mean this....?' and immediately their MD receives a formal complaint about the 'attitude' of his bid team.
And yes, fixing them costs a fortune, but that's not the company's fault. And again, yes, the best contracts are written by industry. If MoD doesn't want to accept it, don't. The most important ones in air systems were always done that way in my day (long ago!). But those were negotiated by MoD's technical staff, not commercial. I doubt if that happens much these days, as the mandated Defence Standard was withdrawn without replacement.
I've never experienced a company bid low to get a contract. If they do go low, it's usually because they don't understand. Seen that many times. But too often neither does the project office, so MoD will go for the low bid not realising neither have a clue. I've also seen MoD go for the high and manifestly unsuitable bid, because of political overrules.