Plus on many occasions they go with the lowest bidder for the sake of appearances. I remember a company I used to work for went with a very unrealistic low bid to get their foot in the door and then get the maintenance contract that came after implementation.
The project went as well as you’d expect with such a low budget. Experienced people left due to long working hours, unrealistic client expectations and no budget for any quality of life improvements available (I was one of them). The company lost the maintenance bid and will likely lose the best people they still have to the new company taking over the contract.
Government contracting is a fucking racket. Especially at federal level because the government is allowed to go over the contract budget by I think 25% so every fucking company that bids knows they are going to get that amount more than their bid.
Not only that, but because of how the procurement process works, they aren’t going to rebid the contract if you mess up.
Contractors don’t save the government any money. It privatizes government functions and makes a few people rich while taking away good jobs and benefits.