Having worked on projects sponsored by "three letter agencies", I also suspect that the cost of the trash cans is potentially recovery for unbudgeted and uncomp

Having worked on projects sponsored by "three letter agencies", I also suspect that the cost of the trash cans is potentially recovery for unbudgeted and uncompensated requirement changes. If the navigation station on the plane had to be shrunk by 1/4 inch due to some 3rd party not being able to meet their required tolerances after manufacturing had begun how does that get paid for? The award is fixed but now the requirements have changed. The TLA is not going back to Congress to get $200k in additional design funding. That phase of the project is done. However, the TLA potentially has a large budget for maintenance and replacement of parts. The navigation station gets an emergency redesign and it is paid for by no-bid 50K trash cans. There is no corruption here just the realities of working with fixed bid contracts, hundreds of third parties from every state in the nation and a political appropriations process.