...are a diverse group.
"[Government Engineers] Don't have to worry about being cost effective in doing studies."/
It's less than meaningless to make such sweepingly dismissive statement for such a large group. I realize that your brain was replaced with a right wing blog server lately and I feel your pain. Why don't you just wave a sign saying (I don't have a f'n clue!)" Maybe it wasn't always the case, or maybe you need to qualify such statements better, but "Government Engineers", many of whom are corporate subcontractors these days, have to use most of the same fiscal metrics as any other big budget project engineers.
Keep your budget envy to yourself, Mark.