Nonsense. Utterly preposterous.
Let’s say that I make Bullet Proof Vests. My materials are superior, and lighter than any other option. More resilient, and longer lasting. Fine. The Government shows up wanting to buy them, and I say no.
I’m not saying that the Government can’t have Bullet Proof Vests, I am saying that they can’t have mine.
When the Clinton Administration sued Microsoft, I said at the time, that Microsoft should refuse to license any software to the US Government. They want to enhance competition, good, go to it. Enjoy whatever you get.
Refusing to do business with the Government does not mean that the Government doesn’t have any other option. Every contract has dozens, or hundreds of people bidding to do the thing. Look at the F-35 debacle. A half dozen companies submitted their plans, and the top two were selected to build prototypes. Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Boeing had a problem with their design, two problems really. One, their thermal plastic wing did not come around like they expected, and two, when given updated requirements that meant a larger, heavier aircraft, the design did not scale up well.
Lockheed also had problems, like completely running out of money and being given even more to complete the prototypes.
In the end, Lockheed got the contract to build the F-35. But you look at any of the programs out there, and dozens of companies are bidding to get the contracts. Not just one, or two. If one or two companies step back and refuse to participate, that just means they don’t want to deal with the headache of Government Contracts. Lord knows I wouldn’t want to.
