Good posts PDR1. I suppose the worst experience I had was 3 years of hoop jumping running a supposedly open competition for a programme; then being told by politicians to award it to a company who didn't even bid. Which just so happened to be in the Minister for Defence Procurement's constituency. Who were then bought by a company who had withdrawn from the original bid on the grounds the job was too difficult; and 6 months in asked to be released from the contract because they couldn't hit the first milestone. There isn't a single thing anyone in MoD can do about such machinations. Thank goodness for the likes of Boscombe, GEC-Marconi and Westland, who dug us out.