No Matter Who Is President....

In preparation for the incoming President, a broken fence at the White House was recently repaired.

Before the repairs were completed, three contractors were called in to bid for the opportunity to fix the broken fence at the White House in DC: One is from New York, another is from Tennessee and the third, is from Florida .

All three went with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900: $400 for materials, $400 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew, and $100 profit for me."

The New York contractor doesn't measure OR figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The New York contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence."

"Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how government contracting works!

I'm afraid that last sentence is more true than I'd like to think.

Don't blame me, blame Doug. And on the eve of the inauguration!