Anatoliy,

Just some impressions from "South of the Border".< g >

First, in considering the situation, I'd lay the blame at the feet of both the customer (the government) and the vendor.

It sounds from the description, that the customer didn't know exactly what they wanted, and the vendor did little or nothing to help them find out.

As far as the schedule/cost over-run issue, I'd have to say, "So, what did you expect?"

With government projects and software projects, the government (in the cases I'm familiar with) always wants a firm cost and schedule at the start. Simply put, this isn't possible at the beginning stages of a project. It's the way governments work, however.

If I went to a government agency and said, "I'll build project X in three quarters at a cost of $100,000.00", I might get the project. If, however, I estimated for the same project that it would take four to eight quarters at a cost of $125K to $250K, I wouldn't stand a chance.

The former instance may be impossible in the first place and it ends up taking six quarters or more and $200,000 or more. In the latter, it may turn out that I'd deliver the project in 5 quarters for $175K.