Similar Posts
Painting With Sheep
This is just too cool… Kinda like coordinating a JS 136 (thems that know, know)
Saturday Comics-III
File this one under “A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted“ Yeah, I’m a fan, but seriously folks…. -SJS
Tuesday’s Roll-up of Defense News
Press the edge of the technological envelope and sometimes it snaps back and bites you. Promise the moon and fail to even deliver a scintilla (and oh yes, demand more money in the process) and the customer naturally gets a little testy. These themes are at the core of a couple of today’s news items – the first, dealing…
Where’s My Ship? Live Ship Locater via the Web
Combine AIS1 with the web and what do you get? How about an ability to track a ship, live, from anywhere you have access to a computer and the web? One such site is here: Live Ships Map. An example of what you can do is demonstrated below: AIS Web Tracker2 – Upload a Document…
Pilot Missing In Action From The Korean War Is Identified
Update 19 July 2008 Come to find out a few new bits of information – like the fact that Capt. Mauldin was a graduate of The Citadel (Class of ’44). The tribute to Air Force Capt. William K. Mauldin came 56 years late. But that Friday’s moving funeral service here came at all is a…
Russian Chief General Staff to be Sacked?
While we have been busy over here, seems there is a bit of a dust-up that has arisen overseas between President Putin and his CGS, Yuriy Baluyevskiy centered on the INF treaty and Russia’s continued adherence in view of the proposed US European site for a portion of its ballistic missile defense system. When Secretaries…
5 Comments
Comments are closed.
All kidding aside, what is the decision-making process like for something which is feasible, needed ASAP, and is cost-effecitve? Would the path to a final decision still be so convoluted?
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
I think the first thing would be smelling salts for the procurement officers! I worked in the DOD world many years it’s extremely rare to find all of those in the same package. If it’s needed ASAP it normally costs more, if its feasible we still have to investigate the non-feasible alternatives (sole-source justification), and if it’s cost effective we have to investigate for some months or years to make sure it’s really what they say so that means you can’t get it ASAP. By the time it’s justified, researched and approved it’s no long feasible as there has been a work around found or a new and better technology available.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, sir. Basically, it appears that absolutely no one benefits except, of course, the………..well, I don’t really know what to call them………..paper-pushers who invent these mazes to make something which should be perfwectly clear and easy exceedingly complex!
Well, in the meantime, we “shortest path from A to B” folks must keep plugging away and not become discouraged. Either that or come into a great deal of money so that we may overhaul this process…….it could be done, and that’s not just wishful thinking.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
The system is the system. Many different SecDef’s have tried many different methods of acquisition reform but none has had the kind of impact that would lead to a “sensible” process by your expectations. And don’t forget Congress is involved too, they have to pass TWO bills, one to authorize the budget for purchases and one to FUND that same authorization. Those bills can be seriously different. So even IF there was a fast-track process (which there sorta is but its still slow by civilian standards) the money has to be there from Congress to buy the items or has to be taken (and moved..which requires more paper) from other areas. The areas that lose the $$ can put up a fight within the system or via their CongressCritters. Case in point was body armor and up-armored HUMVEEs for the troops in Iraq, that process kicked off close to 2 yrs ago, Congress gave DoD the money pretty fast and the needs are just now getting filled. You can’t turn the Titanic on a dime.