Quote Crab:
This sort of thing is made worse when there are 2 or more contractors and sub-contractors - they can each blame the others for failing to meet KPIs while the customer gets screwed.
I woud suggest that the problem isn't the customer getting screwed. It's the classic situation when the military, and I suspect government departments generally, enter contracts: that the customer and the end-user are two separate groups. The customer can be perfectly happy - he goes home at 5pm with a clear desk. The end-user knows that he is being shafted and the country ripped off. Given that the end-user has no means of telling the bloke with the cheque book not to sign, and commits a military offence by whistleblowing, this sort of thing is almost a gift to contractors. Some are entirely honourable; a significant minority are not.
And in SAR the real end-user just sinks out of sight beneath the waves.