As part of my working career, outside of being an entrepreneur, I became a consultant to the Federal government in two ways: 1) as a contractor for a minority-owned 8 (a) business and 2) as a principal and program manager for large corporate contractors. From these vantage points, I had different perspectives on the work and how it was done.
The contracting corporations complied with laws and regulations, including requiring everyone to complete daily timesheets to record their charges against specific contracts. Government inspectors monitored and audited that copious detail.
When not working on a specific contract, I worked on business development, and that charge went to my employer. Business development included following the government's requests for proposals and the detailed process of qualifying and competing for new work. The effort was often as arduous as performing the actual work. The business development cost was integral to determining the hourly rates charged to the government if the contract was won. Otherwise, the cost was charged as the burden of doing business.
The accounting rules were different between not-for-profit small businesses and large commercial contractors.
In my experience, small and large businesses delivered quality work to the government as required. However, one might question the necessity and value of what the government requested. Elon Musk's focus on behalf of President Trump might be, “Are the requested work and purchases truly required and essential?”
For example, given other priorities, how much is space exploration needed and essential? Can Elon Musk answer that question objectively?
