Maybe they need to revamp their project management team so they can bring a project in on time and under budget?
“...schedule delays ...”
What up wid dat?
Federal acquisitions are always over budget, behind schedule, and failing to meet requirements. There is an expectation that the company can simply get more money, money time, and waivers on some requirements just by filing a request. It’s a sweet deal. Until you make a deal with Trump and he sets firm goals.
Yep, good chance the project management team was not up to the task. I suspect this extends further up the line to the preliminary engineering team and business team that worked up the cost basis then negotiated the contract, the detailed engineering team that left some oops that resulted in do-overs that were excluded from compensation via contract terms and the business team that negotiated poorly thus had to eat material cost increases out of Boeing's control.
Did Boeing not have to post a performance bond of sorts or decide on their own to cheap out on that cost?
Lots of ways to loose bucks on fixed contracts. The are certain companies in certain industries that do not shy away from fixed contracts. The ones I have some recollection of are big time players in civil engineering construction design-build where they have total control.
A very small number of times when I was working with a fixed price contract, I was able to insert an incentive clause into the contract. When the line is crossed where ownership passes from the builder to the owner, the incentive clause is evaluated. Cost is fixed of course but if the builder comes in ahead of schedule by a specified amount of time, the builder would earn a performance bonus payment. This really keeps the builder on schedule and busting their butt to earn the extra $$$.
I know zip about airplane construction but Prez Trump negotiated a helluva deal on the two base 747s. IIRC, they were at the tail end of 747 construction and the commercial customer canceled the purchase. So, they were sitting on Boeing's parking lot as a depreciating asset and unsold for a time. Boeing could have stopped with the 747 sale but went for the whole package of modifications. They blew it.
My opinions…