Back in 1983, I was told that a cost assessment had been conducted, concerning the building of MQs at Ascension.
It was rejected due to the cost of £55K per unit. "How much?", asked someone who'd been involved.
"£55K"
"Well, that's interesting, because the actual figure we'd identified was £35K!"
Even then, there was some blatant nest-feathering going on, it would seem...