I think that Matthew has nailed it. I was once told by a contractors representative that one could win government tenders by cutting your margins to zero, secure in the knowledge that the variations would provide an appropriate level of profit.

In my own early days in electrical contracting I was surprised at the number of customers who did not understand that a quote was set in stone. As soon as you decide to change something all bets are off.

The market is there to make a profit not friends.

From:tramsdownunder@... [mailto:tramsdownunder@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Geier
Sent: Monday, 6 February 2023 10:33 AM
To:tramsdownunder@...
Subject: Re: [TramsDownUnder] Secret report reveals $1 billion-plus cost blowout in bungled NSW trains project

On 6/2/23 09:39, Greg Sutherland wrote:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/secret-report-reveals-1-billion-plus-cost-blowout-in-bungled-nsw-trains-project-20230203-p5chpo.html

This is just yet another example of TfNSW/Goverment not being an 'informed customer'.

The opposition is playing 'build them here' card, but we would have just had a locally built disaster instead of a foreign built disaster as TfNSW appears not to have the expertise to ask the manufactures the right questions.

The customer (ie TfNSW) needs to order the right equipment for the job. So they need to actually know what they need first.

There seems to be too much vague 'leave it to the market to offer a solution' hand waving going on and not enough hard-core engineering analysis of requirements.