> MIT received the first major Apollo contract, the only one awarded to a university, and the only one given without competitive bidding.
Do these kinds of mission-critical components generally go to the lowest bidder?
Do these kinds of mission-critical components generally go to the lowest bidder?
For something like this, I'm sure there is stringent engineering validation. I know some initial NN research was part of a larger government project of funding research around stabilizing missiles in flight for ICBMs that was not cheap.
No you have to wine and dine the right people, and line a job up for them when they retire.
Some procurements use the "best value" criteria. I think these contracts are more likely to be protested and have lawsuits filed by the losers. It's easy to say "I deserve this contract because $2 billion < $3 billion". Best value can be a bit more subjective.