Yes there is...
The overreaching DBA and his interventionist management.
But if you really think it's just the "he", then it's time to dispense with him and install Oracle yourself, or bring in your own contractor. Installing Oracle is not that hard.
Unfortunately, I'm at a "big company" and we're not permitted that option. The DBA "must" install. We have a couple of lab machines, not on the corporate "server" network and I started an Oracle install there. I had one quick question for the DBA about a standards doc, and then she was on to me. After that, it went downhill quickly. Next time, I'll just do it the way I think it should be done.
The DBA did complement me that my install was exactly as she would have done it, but she owns it now. Even on the lab machine.
She lets me pick the development language, and pretty much just makes sure the database continues to operate and not run out of space. I was angry a while back because it was performing terrible and she didn't know the difference between "analyze" statistics and "gather" statistics. Know she knows, after I sent her the page number of the Performance tuning manual.
Glen Austin
