Three contractors are bidding to repair the fences around Government House. One is from Khon Kaen, another is from Udon Thani and the third, is from Chonburi. All three go with a Thai civil servant official to examine the fences,

The Khon Kaen contractor takes out a tape measure and does measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says,"I figure the job will run about 7 million baht. 4 million for materials, 2 million for my crew and 1 million profit for me."

The Udon Thani contractor also does some measuring and figuring, and then says, "I can do this job for 5 million; 3 million for materials, 1 million for my crew, and 1 million profit for me..

The Chonburi contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans to the Thai civil servant and whispers, "9 million."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?

The Chonburi contractor whispers back, "2 million for me, 2 million for you, and we hire the guy from Udon to do the work."

Done!" replies the government official. And that, my friends, is how government contracting works!</

So true.....

lol, have you been watching ''only fools and horses'' ?? del boy used that gag when bidding to paint the Nag's Head pub

The way my logical brain works is.....if the civil servant dude has 9 mil to spend on this project, why not just pocket the 4 mil and hire the Udon guy, cutting out the Chonburi guy altogether?

But seriously, good one.

Is that not normal every where in the world with Government and Contractors ?

This is why when you build anything in thailand, you get bids for labor only and completion time. Buy all materials yourself.

The way my logical brain works is.....if the civil servant dude has 9 mil to spend on this project, why not just pocket the 4 mil and hire the Udon guy, cutting out the Chonburi guy altogether?

But seriously, good one.

That would be an obvious crime, you cannot steal 4 million from the state coffers.

You can however elect to pick overpriced contracts. (And silently get kickbacks, as long as no-one finds out.)

Well that certainly is not unique to Thailand

In some other countries I know of it's the official's brother/cousin/uncle/nephew who goes to register a service provider company as soon as he hears a contract will be available. Why get others to do it when you can earn all the money and kickbacks yourself?

This is very true.

I have a Thai 'business man' mate, who wants to get the hel_l out of Thailand because he's sick to death of corruption. He's tired of 'paying off' certain people to get jobs. If he can't afford the 'payoffs', he doesn't get work, which ultimately means "end of business".

It's a vicious circle.

Already covered in Bedlam, there with Australia, and they where sharing 1000 AUD each, so Thailand at least is still a little cheaper...