to be honest having worked in defense and seeing the contract game this is about par.
contractor A B and C bid on a job.
A lowballs it a bit gets the job. about half way thru says sorry we cant finish in time bla bla bla
now the contract gets handed to B at their original bid price plus 10 percent it they can get it done.
SURE no problem. B then sub contracts out A's workforce to work for them for 'continuity' and pays A hefty$$ for the workers.
A gets a black mark on their record for the failure for the non completion. which is suppose to hurt them in future bids.
3 months later another ship goes into the maintenance cycle and its B's turn in the barrel, with C saving the day. Now B has a black mark, few more months, C takes the hot seat and A saved the day.
now they all have a black mark meaning it don't mean shit. they are the only players in the game, its them or no fixie shippy.
most of them have almost nobody as a full time employee, the labor force just walks over to the building of who has the current contract.
you take the corruption or you get nothing. vinny's deal can't be refused. if your navy is in drydock it's not much of a navy is it?
I would assume the post office and many services are the same way.
welcome to government contracting. have a nice day.
aaron