Government contracts have made multimillionaires out of many people. The process has become insanely complicated. In many ways, it is yet another example of political correctness gone wild. My experience with government contracting began close to a half century ago. I was a newly commissioned second lieutenant and needed a new radio system to allow me to communicate with my EOD teams. My unit was responsible for three states. (Police bomb disposal units were rare in those days and Army EOD units spent a lot of time supporting local PDs.) I had to fill out a one page form, let the contracting section put it out to bid, and a month later Motorola was installing my radios.
Complicated Procedures
The contracting procedures are infinitely more complicated nowadays. Congress (you do realize they know what’s “best for us” (sic)) slowly but surely created a byzantine labyrinth of extremely complicated, rules, processes, systems and pricing. Contracting has become a ridiculously silly way of buying what you need if you work for the government. You generally acquire substandard, overpriced equipment along with poor service providers.
The government system does its best to suppress common sense.
There are so many ridiculous problems; it is hard to pick one that is the dumbest.
The Set Aside Rule
A contender is the “set aside” rule. Congress loves pork barrel spending. The website freedictionary.com defines pork barrel spending as, “A bill or project requiring significant government spending in a locality to the benefit of the legislature’s constituents.” Former Alaskan Senator (now deceased) Ted Stevens was a master at pork barrel politics. Years ago, he inserted a provision in a bill that allowed the Government to sole source contracts to companies owned by Alaska Native American tribes. This ethnic group, literally overnight, became the most sought after subcontracting entity in existence.
Sole Sourcing
Sole sourcing means that you do not need to put a contract out to bid. As a government employee, I considered sole sourcing a godsend as it saved me months, sometimes literally years, of going through the contracting nightmare to get something done as simple as buying an armored car.
Of course, whether or not Alaskan Native Americans sold armored cars, or knew anything about them, made no difference. I could be sure that some company that did would be smart enough to “team” with the Alaskan company and provide the car. The company would provide the knowledge and expertise. The Native American Alaskan Company would allow the other company to use their name, and get paid handsomely for it.
This sort of nonsense makes a mockery of the contracting system. It does nothing to help the Alaskan company learn about how to work with the Government. Sure, the government has a program called “mentoring” where a larger company can mentor a smaller one, and by doing so get preferential treatment on contracts. The reality is no one really does much mentoring; they do it to obtain a contract. Neither side really expects any mentoring.
I have not even touched upon the other “special treatment” groups like women-owned or Native American (not Alaskan Native American; Senator Stevens took care of them better than most) and others. I will save that for another rant.
Disclaimer: The content in this article is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of US Patriot Tactical.
