Marines screwed by Marines
 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nat...,3635508.story


Sad.

The company that builds the blast-resistant vehicles did not give enough campaign contributions to congress and the president. I'm sure the Marines had nothing to do with it.

yeah, learn how DoD spending really works...there is always someone with Admiral or General making those calls, not politicians.

If that were the case, then the largest defense contractors would not spend tens of millions per year on making campagn contributions and hiring lobbyists. These companies are not stupid, nor do they like to waste money. If they are spending all that money, then you can be pretty sure it is affective in bringing them more business.

Hmm, you told doctors how health care really works and now DoD contractors how DoD contracting works...you have skills.

I'm a DoD contractor as well, and so are probably many thousands of small businesses across the country.

So how many full time lobbyists do you have working for you? How many millions of dollars did you contribute to political campaigns last year?

My point is that I'm talking about the top ten or so DoD contractors, not your smaller businesses.

The vehicles of subject in your article are a million dollars per vehicle. That means a typical contract for such a vehicle probably numbers in the billions of dollars. I don't know about you, but the contracts my company has with the DoD are typically each in the $1k-$5k range and maybe I have serveral at the time time -- not even close to the type of stuff we're talking about here.

And as for the rules of contracting, let's say that they can easily be broken if the DoD employee you are dealing with really wants to buy from you. They simply have to say that no other company can offer the product that you offer. In my case, my company offers music that they use in production. And indeed, I am the only company that can offer the exact music that I offer. There are about 30 other companies in the US that do the same exact thing that I do. But they all have their music which is not 100% identical to mine. So at times, I have gotten contracts without having to go through the bid process.

Good Lord, you're wrong. You seem to think that politicians dictate direct spending, they don't. They dictate gross budget. Direct allocation is done at a lower level. The contracts we deal with are in the 100M+ range with Fortune 500 prime DoD contractors. I've yet to see a contract award dictated by a politician. I have however seen them dictated by Generals.

Yes, but it is made quite clear to them how the DoD intends to spend the money before they approve the budget. They know if they cut the budget what will be eliminated, and they know if they increase the budget what will be added, and from whom it will most likely be purchased from.

Also, much of the DoD spending, especially for large projects, is done in suplemental bills. For example, back in the day Ronald Reagan talked of his "star wars" project. Congress did not allow for the funding for that. The decision was not made by the DoD. Same with the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That money has been done in suplemental bills.

As for Generals dictating things, don't think for one minute that there is not vast amounts of communication between politicians and generals. When congress votes for the budget, they know very well what it will be spent on, in very great detail.

You don't seem to get the concept that agencies share budgets left and right. When one program is "marked" other divisions within DoD will subsidize the budget, this is 100% out of a politicians hands. I've been in the room when calls were made to different areas to get supplemental funding. I've also watched, first hand, programs prioritized to avoid congressional budget demands.

All the following is fiction then I suppose?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/...in551091.shtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004...usa.dickcheney

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/ar..._see_big_drop/

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...733760,00.html