This was one of the techniques they used to drive up the cost of the Superconducting Super Collider 30+ years ago as a pretext for cancelling the project for being too expensive. We were also limited to what we could spend in Texas so there was the added expense of finding small "disadvantaged" female minority owned businesses located anywhere else but local.txags92 said:I was told at one point about 5-10 years ago when the DoD raised their "small business participation goals" for contracting to 27%, that when you account for the major weapons systems like F-35s, various missile systems, JDAMs, etc. that were all large business contracts, that there was only about 30% of the contracting budget left across the whole DoD. Which meant that after their goal of 27% small business contracting was met, only 3% of the remaining contracts could go to large businesses.Ulysses90 said:P.U.T.U said:
I don't think most Americans realize that half of the DOD budget is contracts
Aside from military personnel (MilPers)
and civilian personnel appropriations, it's all contracts. To be more specific, I believe what you migjt be referring to is that >50% of the DoD budget is some variety of service contract are opposed to a materiel procurement contract.
(And yes, for those wondering, "small businesses" in military contracting are a joke. They are all large businesses hiding behind a JV or some other subcontracting arrangement that uses a shell company pretending to be a small business as a front to satisfy a contract requirement.)
I find it interesting that what they used to intentionally inflate the SSCL expenses is the operational standard of the DOD. Just one more way the taxpayers are taking it in the shorts from our own government.
