It is commonly understood that the United States government pays hand over fist for even the most minute product, regardless whether tangible or otherwise. I grew up hearing stories about nuts and bolts for production aircraft purchased by the Air Force costing thousands of dollars when the company should have charged the government orders of magnitude less. Even after being bombarded with story after story, I chalked it all up to competitor jealousy.

My entire perspective was forever changed after I started working with the government as a contractor for the United States. Even though I was in the Navy for almost 9 years, and worked hand-in-hand with many contractors, I never really was privy to what you see when you work directly for a company who has a contract with the government, especially the Department of Defense.

Continue