THREE  CONTRACTORS

  Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence on a government housing estate.
 
  All three contractors go with a Government official to examine the fence.
 
        One of the contractors takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works on 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 second 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 third contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the Government official and whispers, "$2,700."
 
         The official, incredulous at the estimate, says, "You didn't even measure like the other blokes!
How did you come up with such a high figure?"
 
The smart contractor whispers back, "$1,000 for me, $1,000 for you, then we hire the second bloke to fix the fence."
 
"Done!" replied the government official.
 

And that, my friends, is how government contracting works everywhere.