Bids are solicited from contractors based on these documents; a contract is then awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.

Hercules, a contractor based in the Bronx, donated $7,000 to the campaign, but Mr. Rigas gathered another $16,000 for the Mayor.

Several of the more than 2,000 military contractors based in Connecticut have reported sales of replacement parts, Senator Lieberman said.

The large military contractor, based in Calabasas, Calif., provided no further details.

Israel hired the company, a deep-sea contractor based in Hanover, Md., to conduct the hunt.

The economics can be compelling to companies like Raytheon, the military contractor based in Lexington, Mass.

The company, a military contractor based in Lexington, Mass., said sales would grow 3 percent this year and next, half its earlier forecast.

But Lockheed, the military contractor based in Calabasas, Calif., said it would consider enlarging and expanding the plan if financial and market conditions warranted.

In 2012 all 737-400 series "heavy" maintenance was outsourced to contractors based in Sofia, Bulgaria owing to the age of the aircraft.

An analogy can be drawn with choosing among contractors based on their initial (nonbinding) estimate of the cost of a job.