Bids taken for the white house fence

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in DC:

One is from Chicago , another is from Virginia and the third, is from Alabama . All three go with a White House official to examine the fence.

The Virginia 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 Alabama 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 Chicago 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 Chicago contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Alabama to fix the fence."

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