The White House Fence



Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at the White House in DC: One is from New York , another is from Tennessee and the third, is from Florida

All three go with a White House official to examine the fence

The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900 : $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The New York contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, "$2,700."


The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the
other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"


The New York contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you,
and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence."


"Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how
government contracting works!