> One solution is to try to make more realistic initial estimates. But more realistic initial estimates won't win the contract for your company. I don't know

> One solution is to try to make more realistic initial estimates. But more realistic initial estimates won't win the contract for your company. I don't know about the legal situation in the US, but in the EU, the lowest bidder gets the contract. So everybody has the best incentives of making a (sometimes even ridiculously low) initial estimate, and then find reasons to charge more. And such reasons are always to be found, since requirements won't remain stable over the course of a multi-year projects. They never, ever do. And any change can be sold as an expensive scope creep that costs a few million USD.