Discussions

News: Is Overcharging on Government Contracts Really That Unusual?

Bookmark and Share Get thread feed

  1. Is Overcharging on Government Contracts Really That Unusual? (4 messages)

    Seeing that I did pre-sales for a pretty big IT company for a little while in my youth, I probably better not say anything incriminating on this subject; but really, is overcharging a bit on Government contracts really that unusual? 

    I've seen bids on contracts where we knew the government department was going to use Oracle as the database to keep their Oracle reps happy, and they were going with WebSphere in the middle tier to keep the IBM reps happy. Oracle didn't competitively price their database, and IBM didn't competitively price their middle-tier products because they knew it was a 'fait accompli.' Nobody was ever charged more than list price or anything, but were governments charged more than banks and insurance companies that put their vendors through much more competitive bidding processes? Of course they were, and quite frankly, it was their own, stupid, fault.

    I guess the question is about just how much Oracle bilked those government agencies, or for that matter, if they did it at all. Who knows, maybe this will get interesting, and give the world an interesting, inside look at the seedy underbelly of the exciting world of writing up IT contract proposals.

    DOJ involvement in whistleblower case turns up heat on Oracle

     

    Reply to this

    Threaded Messages (4)

  2. Is Overcharging on Government Contracts Really That Unusual?[ Go to top ]

    This is nothing.  You should get a load of a time-and-materials contract.  Loundon and Fairfax counties in VA aren't the richests (per capita) in the US because of dumb luck.

    Reply to this Reply to original

  3. You are spot-on there[ Go to top ]

    This is nothing.  You should get a load of a time-and-materials contract.  Loundon and Fairfax counties in VA aren't the richests (per capita) in the US because of dumb luck.

    Whatever `gouging` goes on in the sales of the products themselves is **NOTHING** in terms of the gouging that goes on selling labor to the government.  The higher the level of clearance, the higher the level of gouging.

    Reply to this Reply to original

  4. Part of the problem[ Go to top ]

    Anyone that knows how procurement process works in the military knows part of the problem is the process. Having to fill out forms in quadruplicate is normal. If the military is serious about fixing the problem, they should first fix the procurement process and make it so they can bargain with vendors.

    Reply to this Reply to original

  5. Is Overcharging on Government Contracts Really That Unusual?[ Go to top ]

    Has anyone ever heard or seen governments sold anything for considerably less than what the public of other companies would pay.

    Reply to this Reply to original