&gt;<i></i>It didn’t seem controversial to me. Writing some code to help out the government and the general public—what a unique opportunity!<i></i><p>Y&#x27;know, if the author explained it along the lines of &quot;I wanted to have a record of government work as a foot in the door&quot;, I think it would be an easier pill to swallow for the folks bidding at reasonable prices.<p>However, the tone here is a little patronising if another bidder was just trying to get enough to cover the rent.<p>But at the end of the day, it&#x27;s the way that system was set up. Hopefully 18F sees this as an opportunity to improve the auction system (secret minimum and other suggestions in the other thread), rather than a way to get cheap labour.