Government Contracting Dictionary


CONTRACTOR
A gambler who never gets to shuffle, cut or deal.

BID OPENING
A poker game in which the losing hand wins.

BID
A wild guess carried out to two decimal places.

LOW BIDDER
A contractor who is wondering what he left out of his bid.

ENGINEER'S ESTIMATE
The cost of construction in heaven.

PROJECT MANAGER
The conductor of an orchestra in which every musician is in a different union.

CRITICAL PATH METHOD
A management technique for losing your shirt under perfect control.

OSHA
A protective coating made by half-baking a mixture of fine print, red tape, split hairs and baloney -- usually applied at random with a shotgun.

STRIKE
An effort to increase egg production by strangling the chicken.

DELAYED PAYMENT
A tourniquet applied at the pockets.

COMPLETION DATE
The point at which liquidated damages begin.

LIQUIDATED DAMAGES
A penalty for failing to achieve the impossible.

AUDITOR
People who go in after the war is lost and bayonet the wounded.

LAWYER
People who go in after the auditors and strip the bodies.