I find this semi-humorous. The EPA or any government agency doesn't, with a few exceptions, get to pick their contractor. EVERYTHING is lowest bidder, from parts to construction. Exception examples, before someone else throws it out there, include a $400 hammer in the 1980's and the NASA shitter for a whopping $2000 . When one consistently awards lowest bidder, s**t happens, literally.
Having worked with a number of government contractors, as one of the
Originally Posted By: timshufflin
If you're stupid, you just go get employed by the feds
people, it is never as straight forward as trusting a contractor. You get what you pay for which means you have to watch like a hawk or something gets jacked. Sometimes things get missed, sometimes the gov't agency is lazy, sometimes they are understaffed, and sometimes there are mistakes made. Without understanding the entire story I would be cautious to blame one entity entirely. Not saying the EPA is not at fault, they are but to what degree. The contractor is mostly definitely at fault.
On numerous occasions we have knowingly awarded contracts to companies that are going to cost more in the long run, do crappy jobs, or try to employ illegal immigrants (one of my favorites). We have no choice, lowest bidder gets the job, it sucks. The only thing you can do is document where they jack up and hope that it is enough to remove them from future contracts.
Side note: When you are POTUS sponsoring healthcare you can pick whichever contractor you wish, nobody is going to tell you no.
