Commercial providers only get paid a fixed sum of money when they meet performance-based milestones.

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Currently run by Severn River Crossing Plc, the bridge will return to public ownership when the firm has collected a fixed sum of money from tolls, expected to be around 2017.

BBC: Welsh Affairs Select Committee

One implication of the pie metaphor is that wealth is a zero-sum game: there is a fixed amount of houses, cars, medicines, etc. to go around, and the more Steve Jobs gets the less is left for the rest of us.

FORBES: When It Comes to Wealth Creation, There Is No Pie

However, they should not be deterred from university since they would only have to make repayments of a fixed sum, unlike the graduate tax, and the system would offer protection to low earners.

ECONOMIST: How to get more money into universities

DC, now receives a block grant for welfare (a fixed sum based on the amount it received at the time of greatest need) from the federal government.

ECONOMIST: Welfare reform

Under Medicare Advantage, seniors effectively get a fixed sum to buy coverage from HMOs or managed care companies instead of having Uncle Sam pay doctors and hospitals on an a la carte basis.

FORBES: Uncommon Sense

Today, 70 percent of HECM loans are fixed rate, where proceeds are disbursed only through a single lump sum.

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