Yes, I call it the &#x27;conspiracy of optimism&#x27;. The bidder wants to win the business and implement the project, the customer-user wants the capability provided by the project, so they conspire against the customer-payer.<p>Realistic proposals fail. An under-resourced under-priced and short-scheduled proposal is functionally approved by the customer-user, then signed-off as the cheapest&#x2F;shortest option by the customer-payer.<p>The real negotiation is in the T&amp;Cs for change management, scope creep, responsibilities for delays and the structure of payment according to milestones.