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If you've never seen the DOD contracts page [1] published daily, it's worth a look. The numbers, as you'd expect, are eye popping. The military industrial compl

If you've never seen the DOD contracts page [1] published daily, it's worth a look. The numbers, as you'd expect, are eye popping. The military industrial complex is chugging along nicely. The DOD has to spend $2.3 billion dollars a day for every day of the year. That's $1.6 million per minute, 24 hours a day. How can they possibly spend that much? The daily contracts page shows you a good chunk of it. And that's just for external expenses - not counting the costs of 1.4 million active service members and their infrastructure and equipment. So, honestly? I'm not super surprised they might have issues keeping track of all that money. 1. https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/ https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/

yieldcrv 2y ago
> awarded … for fielding of latticed mesh network to additional space surveillance setwork sites, implementing an unpriced change order definitization action lol
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
mmooss 2y ago
That's incredible. I've never heard of it - where did you find it?
credit_guy 2y ago
> The numbers, as you'd expect, are eye popping. What exactly was eye popping? I took a quick look, and while the numbers are large, I don't have a sense they are larger than they should be. The first for 15-Nov is a contract for roofing for the Army for $99MM. A number of firms are competing for that, and none of these firms sounds like "the military industrial complex". One is Roofing Resources from Pennsylvania. Its page states that it is "certified women-owned small business" [1]. Do you find anything nefarious with that? [1] https://teamrri.com/ https://teamrri.com/
- ifyoubuildit 2y ago
  Depends. How many square feet of roof are they doing? At $10 per sq ft, thats 10M sq feet. Also, what "small business" is doing those kinds of numbers, especially in a single contract?
  - quickthrowman 2y ago
    > Depends. How many square feet of roof are they doing? At $10 per sq ft, thats 10M sq feet. It’s a 5 year long contract and buildings need to be reroofed every ~30 years, several million square feet sounds about right. > Also, what "small business" is doing those kinds of numbers, especially in a single contract? You were linked to an example. A “small business” construction firm can easily administer a $99M contract if they subcontract all of the work out and act as construction manager. One dedicated project manager could do it, honestly. Performance and payment bonds ensure the work is completed. Certain types of businesses have a bidding advantage on public work, depending on the funding source: minority owned businesses (MBE), women owned businesses (WBE), service disabled veteran businesses, (SDVOSB, which DoD and VA contracts often target), and others. The advantage can be as high as 12%, which can lead to the construction manager situation I described above. My post is only relevant to construction procurement, no clue how it works outside of that.
- russellbeattie 2y ago
  Huh? You picked one small example out of dozens in the last week alone. There's billions flowing to military contractors. You should probably take more than a "quick look".
  - credit_guy 2y ago
    I did take more than a quick look, but only for the day of 15-Nov, the last published. On that day there 11 contracts worth half a billion dollars altogether. All but one went to firms I never heard of, and which most people would not consider to be part of the "military industrial complex". The exception was Anduril, which is actually quite a new entrant in the game. It's a bit difficult to share your sense of outrage. The US is a large country, and its Department of Defense is also large. But not out of proportion. The DoD budget is less than 4% of the GDP. That money buys you the best military on the planet. By a mile. For comparison, the public elementary and secondary schools in the US spend more than the DoD, and the outcome is kind of mediocre. Do you feel outraged by the "educational industrial complex" ?
patrick451 2y ago
Just because the numbers are large doesn't make them more difficult to add. The DOD is either incompetent or embezzling taxpayer dollars.
- Schiendelman 2y ago
  What's a third option? I encourage the brainstorming exercise.
- Paradigma11 2y ago
  From what I remember when I read up on this last time, the problem is mostly with the salary and pension system that has organically grown to some ridiculous complexity.

yieldcrv 2y ago

> awarded … for fielding of latticed mesh network to additional space surveillance setwork sites, implementing an unpriced change order definitization action lol

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

mmooss 2y ago

That's incredible. I've never heard of it - where did you find it?

credit_guy 2y ago

> The numbers, as you'd expect, are eye popping. What exactly was eye popping? I took a quick look, and while the numbers are large, I don't have a sense they are larger than they should be. The first for 15-Nov is a contract for roofing for the Army for $99MM. A number of firms are competing for that, and none of these firms sounds like "the military industrial complex". One is Roofing Resources from Pennsylvania. Its page states that it is "certified women-owned small business" [1]. Do you find anything nefarious with that? [1] https://teamrri.com/ https://teamrri.com/

ifyoubuildit 2y ago
Depends. How many square feet of roof are they doing? At $10 per sq ft, thats 10M sq feet. Also, what "small business" is doing those kinds of numbers, especially in a single contract?
- quickthrowman 2y ago
  > Depends. How many square feet of roof are they doing? At $10 per sq ft, thats 10M sq feet. It’s a 5 year long contract and buildings need to be reroofed every ~30 years, several million square feet sounds about right. > Also, what "small business" is doing those kinds of numbers, especially in a single contract? You were linked to an example. A “small business” construction firm can easily administer a $99M contract if they subcontract all of the work out and act as construction manager. One dedicated project manager could do it, honestly. Performance and payment bonds ensure the work is completed. Certain types of businesses have a bidding advantage on public work, depending on the funding source: minority owned businesses (MBE), women owned businesses (WBE), service disabled veteran businesses, (SDVOSB, which DoD and VA contracts often target), and others. The advantage can be as high as 12%, which can lead to the construction manager situation I described above. My post is only relevant to construction procurement, no clue how it works outside of that.
russellbeattie 2y ago
Huh? You picked one small example out of dozens in the last week alone. There's billions flowing to military contractors. You should probably take more than a "quick look".
- credit_guy 2y ago
  I did take more than a quick look, but only for the day of 15-Nov, the last published. On that day there 11 contracts worth half a billion dollars altogether. All but one went to firms I never heard of, and which most people would not consider to be part of the "military industrial complex". The exception was Anduril, which is actually quite a new entrant in the game. It's a bit difficult to share your sense of outrage. The US is a large country, and its Department of Defense is also large. But not out of proportion. The DoD budget is less than 4% of the GDP. That money buys you the best military on the planet. By a mile. For comparison, the public elementary and secondary schools in the US spend more than the DoD, and the outcome is kind of mediocre. Do you feel outraged by the "educational industrial complex" ?

patrick451 2y ago

Just because the numbers are large doesn't make them more difficult to add. The DOD is either incompetent or embezzling taxpayer dollars.

Schiendelman 2y ago
What's a third option? I encourage the brainstorming exercise.
Paradigma11 2y ago
From what I remember when I read up on this last time, the problem is mostly with the salary and pension system that has organically grown to some ridiculous complexity.