I sincerely doubt if any of the “wastelands” brigade have ever negotiated and then managed a contract with the company. Or are remotely familiar with the concept of, for example, post-costing, which ensures a company is paid a fair and reasonable price with an agreed profit margin. To this day, Westland remain the only company that has ever offered me money back during a contract, because they have been so efficient they didn’t need the “float” element I had agreed. (Typically, delays caused by aircraft unservicability or other unforeseens). Their prompt action allowed me to fund features in the aircraft that the Service had salami sliced out; if they had held on to it until post-costing clawed it back, I wouldn’t have received the money. I have nothing but praise for their staffs I have dealt with.
Time and again, over many years, Westland have been shafted by MoD. Time and again they have kept quiet, got their heads down, and sorted out MoD’s mess. On numerous occasions, that included effectively taking over large contracts that they were merely sub-contractors on and completing them when MoD’s chosen favourite failed to deliver, reneged on their contractual obligations, or had those obligations waived by a friendly/incompetent/pliable project manager. Then, had to sit back and watch the “prime” contractor take credit for a programme which they did more to hinder than help.
I recall one occasion when the prime was contracted to integrate new avionics into the aircraft. Westland’s only role was to prepare the aircraft for trials and conduct said trials from their premises. The PM waived the prime’s system integration clause, the prime pitched up and dumped a truck load of crates on the hangar floor – and were paid in full as that, apparently, constituted “systems integration”. With no contract cover whatsoever, Westland installed the avionics, designed and manufactured the bits that the prime had missed (or rather, were told about but they ignored the advice), and were solely responsible for that aircraft getting through trials successfully and entering service on time. The prime took the credit, but Westland quite rightly submitted a bill which ate up their profit margin. As ever, you need to look at the wider picture and understand where the root of the problem is. The “waste” invariably occurs elsewhere.