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Braley, C. (2005). 'Key Components to Developing Critical Estimating Processes'. Contract Management 45(5): 10.
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Most government contractors' estimating departments consistently face a dilemma - how best to estimate costs that will fit into the target value that business development deems necessary to win the contract. The purpose here is not to castigate business development because that function is certainly one of the most important functional areas within any company. If there is no business base on which to execute, then it does not matter how strong the remaining functional areas are - the company will simply not survive. What plagues many contractors, however, is the sales commitment that business developers present to the customer and then hand to the estimators as the pricing framework in which they must develop the proposal. This frequently forces contractors to either leave money on the table or submit a bid that is not consistent with the customer's price expectations. The importance of proper cost estimating cannot be overstated. Companies often put this function on the backburner, in which case, valuable resources are not used until the proposal submission deadline is near. This practice, however common, is not in the best interest of any contractor.