Comments on: Acquisiton Reform

By: flightlevel69

flightlevel69 — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:41:24 +0000

that same mom who took in the tomcat in our neighborhood (see comment under Stuck in the Past, supra) also worked first for Naval Supply at Charleston (Bldg 198), then NAVELEX (Cosgrove Ave) then SPAWAR (NAVBASCHS), and for 40+ years she was a contract negotiator for the navy and bought everything from pens and paper (year 1) to scuba equipment (year 10) to canopy seal rings for nuclear subs (year 20) to god only knows what with SpaWar. never, not once, ever, could she have ever imagined this kind of mess, she would not take so much as a SkilCraft® pen, much less this nonesense. I agree, “G-Man”, integrity, once lost, never returns. what a shame….

By: Wilko

Wilko — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:13:16 +0000

With Cost Accounting Standards, procedures and reviews I’m amazed they got as far as they did. The government contracts on which we’re involved just don’t allow it.

By: Subguy

Subguy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:53:00 +0000

MarineRIO-BIWs has a great reputation in the USN. It would seem justifiably so. As a guy on active duty, all I can say is that the civil servants and contractors (most former military) I have worked with have all been stand up people. Even in the Pentagon. Perhaps I never got to work with people high enough in the food chain-ie, our political overlords.

By: Mike M.

Mike M. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:30:13 +0000

Outright graft like this is quite rare. Who do they think they are, Congressmen?

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:03:20 +0000

Well, these guys are just stupid. There are much smarter ways to do the same thing.

By: Marine RIO

Marine RIO — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:34:51 +0000

On the other hand, after retiring from the Corps, I worked for Bath Iron Works (General Dynamics) on the DDG program doing subcontract purchasing. These were lots of multi-million dollar contracts for systems on the DDG. Most of the people doing this buying and running of contracts had no military experience. I was greatly impressed with the integrity and talent of the people involved. There are multiple levels of review in the acquisition process, and everyone involved was well aware of providing the best value to the navy. In 17 years at BIW I never saw or heard of a single case of any suspicious act involving anything but the highest standards of integrity.