-- having a little experience in government contracting, let me explain what happens next....
The New Jersey contractor and the White House official sign a contract. The New Jersey contractor hires the low-bid Tennessee contractor for $700 to actually fix the fence.
The Florida contractor, disappointed that he didn't get the contract, calls his congressman, reminds him that he donated to his re-election campaign, and asks him to look into contracting irregularities at the white house.
The Florida congressman calls the white house contracting official, says that the florida contractor feels that there might be contracting irregularities and that maybe he needs to call everyone up in front of his committee and have a hearing being as his committee has oversight authority. The white house contracting official assures the congressman that there were no irregularities, but that he will look into it and get right back to him. The white house contracting official then calls the New Jersey contractor in a panic, saying that the Florida congressman just called him about contracting irregularities, and that they may have HEARINGS, and that if called to testify he isn't going to be the only one serving time in Allenwood.
The New Jersey contractor tells him not to worry - he is an old hand in Washington and knows just who to call. He calls his New Jersey congressman, who he has donated to heavily in the past, and asks him to talk to the Florida congressman about the hold up on his contract.
The New Jersey congressman calls the Florida congressman, they talk for a while and decide that the best thing is to just get everybody in for an informal meeting. The 2 congressman, the white house contracting offiical, the Florida and New Jersey contractors meet and hash out the following compromise.
1. The New Jersey Contractor gets the contract as Prime Contractor.
2. The New Jersey Contractor hires the Florida Contractor as a subcontractor supervisor to watch over the Tennessee contractor as he actually fixes the fence - he gets paid $200, which is twice the profit he would have made actually doing the work.
3. The need for oversight has created an additional budget item in the contract, so the white house contracting official will add a 'cost plus' contract addendum for the New Jersey Contractor to cover the cost of oversight and any other contact changes that may come up in the future.
The contracts are approved, signed, countersigned, stamped, shuffled, and finally given to the New Jersey contractor. The work is completed, and the government receives a bill for $7,500 - broken out as follows:
--- Construction Work Performed ($1,900)
$ 700 for the Tennessee Contractor who actually did the work.
$ 200 for the Florida "subcontractor supervisor"
$1,000 for the New Jersey Prime Contractor
--- Contract Oversight Services ($3,000)
$1,000 for the White House contracting official's retirement fund...
$1,000 for the Florida Congressman's next re-election campaign
$1,000 for the New Jersey Congressman's next re-election campaign
--- Ongoing Maintenance ($2,600)
$1,400 to tear out & replace the shoddy fence put up by the low-bid contractor ($500 tear out, $900 replace by the Florida contractor)
$1,200 for the New Jersey contractor to provide oversight on ongoing maintenance.
THAT'S government contracting folks....
EagleDNY
$.02
