Rant? Just wait until you see the 'big picture.'
It was bad enough when 'experts' decided that getting multiple bids for everything was a good idea. Now we see 'act two.'
Act two, as I call it, was when business schools began teaching a few new 'ideas.' We're now in the days where they eager students have risen to where they are able to practice these novel thoughts.
The foundation is laid on the principle that 'if I'm bigger than you, then you need me more than I need you.' Count on them to work this at every opportunity.
The next plank in this platform is "bureaucracy is good." The guy who develops a plan, and does all the legwork (like getting bids) has zero involvement after that point. Instead, executing the plan gets handed off to another division, even an outside contractor. Spending gets funnelled through a remote purchasing agency. It's almost as if the system is designed to assure that no one involved at the start has any actual involvement in the project.
Purchasing will then take the next step - by putting everything out to bid again. They'll pull every trick .... give the lights to the guy whose lighting part had the cheapest labor, while specifying the lower fixture pricing of the other guy who had higher labor.
The final ploy is payment .... preferably on the courthouse steps, and not a moment sooner - and without penalties.
I can't stress one point enough: this is NOT accidental. These folks were taught to do things this way.
