Senior managers at G4S only realised "eight or nine days ago", that they could not provide enough security guards for the London Olympics, the company's chief executive has said.
Nick Buckles told the BBC that problems in the recruitment and deployment process were only recently identified.
He also could not guarantee all the security staff spoke fluent English.
G4S will charge Olympic organisers Locog £280m, but says it will lose up to £50m on the contract.
Mr Buckles said the company accepted it had "underestimated the task of supplying staff to the Olympics".
"We deeply regret that... and we are deeply disappointed. It was a daunting task to supply that number of staff in a short time scale.
"I began to know it was going wrong eight or nine days ago... Basically we are recruiting a large number of people and they are all working through a process of interview, two or three different degrees of training, licensing and accreditation.
"It is only when you get closer to the Games, you realise that the number is not as high as you expect," Mr Buckles added.
G4S signed a contract with Locog in 2010 to supply 2,000 security staff to work at Olympic venues.
Unanswered questions
In December 2011, the Games organisers asked the company to provide an additional 8,000 guards, bringing the total to 10,000 staff.
Mr Buckles would not confirm exactly how much the government were penalising the company for failing to fulfil the contract. But he estimated the figure would be around £10m-£20m.
The Commons Public Accounts Committee has summoned G4S, two government departments and 2012 organiser Locog to answer questions in September.
Mr Buckles has been asked to appear before the Home Affairs Select Committee next week.
The head of the company could also not guarantee that all of the security personnel were fluent English speakers.
"I am pretty sure they [the staff] can, but I cannot say categorically as I sit here today," he said.
"I do not know about the individuals. As part of the process they have to have a right to work in the UK, and they have been interviewed, screened and vetted to a very high standard."
G4S have agreed to pay for the deployment of 3,500 extra military personnel, to plug the gap in security staff.
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt said any serviceman who had been inconvenienced would have their costs repaid through refunds from the G4S contract.
Mr Buckles added: "We are very very grateful to the military for providing this support. To the individuals we are grateful that they are giving up time with family to come and help us."
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