Should we, or should we not...

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

I suppose the general rule about bureaucracies pissing away money would apply to the bureaucracies that also populate large business organizations? Moreover, since much of the work of the DOD is contracted away to large comanies, the supposed inefficiency of bureaucracies would be compounded.

Regards,

D-Ray

That's not the worst of it. High tech weapons procurements are done via cost-plus contracting. We actually reward inefficiency. The more inefficient the contractor is, the greater the cost, and the greater the fee upon those costs (unless the Government can document and disallow costs for blatant inefficiency (which rarely happens, and if it does the contractor takes it to court to prove government complicity in their inefficiency).

High tech R&D weapons system procurement is a crazy expensive proposition.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by finnbow

That's not the worst of it. High tech weapons procurements are done via cost-plus contracting. We actually reward inefficiency. The more inefficient the contractor is, the greater the cost, and the greater the fee upon those costs (unless the Government can document and disallow costs for blatant inefficiency (which rarely happens, and if it does the contractor takes it to court to prove government complicity in their inefficiency).

High tech R&D weapons system procurement is a crazy expensive proposition.

Correct. Every military unit must spend every penny allotted to it---plus.
Lest they be handed a smaller budget the following year.

I have watched many thousands of dollars worth of perfectly good aircraft parts, machine parts, supplies, etc. get dumped straight into the ocean, the day before an audit.

Anyone who has served in the military can verify this. The waste is staggering.

Dave

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Correct. Every military unit must spend every penny allotted to it---plus.
Lest they be handed a smaller budget the following year.

I have watched many thousands of dollars worth of perfectly good aircraft parts, machine parts, supplies, etc. get dumped straight into the ocean, the day before an audit.

Anyone who has served in the military can verify this. The waste is staggering.

Dave

And that's the small stuff, Dave. I'm talking about the big Defense contractors (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, General Dynamics, Raytheon, SAIC, United Techologies, ........)

[BlueStreak]

Oh, I know. I've always thought that with better financial management the defense budget could be cut in half, without reducing military strength.

The contractors feed on it like suckling pigs. Hell, why not? The DoD throws truckloads of money at them.

Dave

[whell]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

I suppose the general rule about bureaucracies pissing away money would apply to the bureaucracies that also populate large business organizations? Moreover, since much of the work of the DOD is contracted away to large comanies, the supposed inefficiency of bureaucracies would be compounded.

Regards,

D-Ray

Less so these days as it relates to corporate America. One of the reasons we have 9.4% unemployment.

[CarlV]

9.4 would be nice here.
http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by whell

Less so these days as it relates to corporate America. One of the reasons we have 9.4% unemployment.

Except in the defense/national security industry. DoD and DHS are still spending like drunken sailors, but no politician is willing to curtail it lest he be labeled as soft on national security. Total budget of these two departments (one of which is 8 years old) is ~$750 Billion/year.

[merrylander]

One of the RFPs I worked on was for a DHS contract. After perusing their website for background material I found that all they managed in their first year was the design of a new shoulder patch for the border guards.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Correct. Every military unit must spend every penny allotted to it---plus.
Lest they be handed a smaller budget the following year.

I have watched many thousands of dollars worth of perfectly good aircraft parts, machine parts, supplies, etc. get dumped straight into the ocean, the day before an audit.

Anyone who has served in the military can verify this. The waste is staggering.

Dave

Right on down the line.

The county nursing service went out and bought a bunch of new office furniture and a couple of giant big screen LCD teevees because the had money left in their budget.

How do I know? They had me send my crew up to assemble all of the overpriced particle board junk they bought, and haul off desks and filing cabinets that will still be here in 100 yrs.

One thing about their new furniture, it's covered with genuine wood grained vinyl.

But their budget didn't get cut.

Chas

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by Charles

Right on down the line.

The county nursing service went out and bought a bunch of new office furniture and a couple of giant big screen LCD teevees because the had money left in their budget.

How do I know? They had me send my crew up to assemble all of the overpriced particle board junk they bought, and haul off desks and filing cabinets that will still be here in 100 yrs.

One thing about their new furniture, it's covered with genuine wood grained vinyl.

But their budget didn't get cut.

Chas

That's why you can find much better furniture at the thrift stores than at OfficeMax.