Bribes for govt contracts: The United States vs Thailand

Same thing happens in the USA.  
To even bid on a US Federal government project, you need to have been in business a decade and have 97 lawyers review the contract, etc. 
You better have a staff of at least 25-plus, also, to get them to figure out the mountains of paperwork, just to submit the bid.
I used to be deeply involved in many government contracts, both US and Thai.
The Thai contracts were won with a brown envelope: I have seen it with my own two eyes.
My Thai boss once told me he wished he could pay me more, but he had to bribe too many people for that contract.
It’s almost impossible for any small company to edge in against any big company; the same companies get the same government contracts forever.
Jaywalker