I can tell you horror stories about why what you say is BS. I was a
sales guy for a very large company. My company was the market leader in
our field. I eventually retired in this job and had a very successful
career. After a time I no longer wanted to waste my time dealing with
the government. They were a waste of my time. They would have no
knowledge, pick my brain, have me layout what was needed and then bid.
They then would go to others to bid after I did all the layout work for
them. (They did this because I worked for the market leader.) In most
cases they would then pick the lowest bidder or pick a minority vendor.
They would send this stuff around the world never being concerned if
there was any support after the purchase from these other companies. My
company had world wide support but that meant nothing. One time the Air
Force didn't buy my product, a leak detector, because I had convinced
them the product really worked and they did not want their contamination
discovered. Another time the Navy didn't buy my product because my bid
came in lower then anyone else and it was too low a bid. Their rules
somehow said the price of the purchase had to be over some minimum
amount. (Never mind I had the market leader product that was better
then anyone else s product. One time the Feds asked me what temperature
the paint would burn off my cabinet. Nobody in the world ever concerned
themselves with this before. $400 hammers? After dealing with all
their crap the price of the hammer should really have been $800. The
government buyers on the whole were ignorant and could never make it in
the real world. After I started just throwing their bid requests in the
trash I started getting them calling me almost begging me to bid. No
thanks, I made a nice living dealing with non government companies who
viewed me as a friend and valued partner. The bottom line was the
government wastes a vendors time so much because of their ignorance and
goofy requirements, you have to bid higher then normal to cover all
these extra costs if you ever want to make any money off of them. Then
the final straw, the government can break you while you wait forever to
get them to pay you for their purchase. They are notorious for not
paying on a timely manner. One time I called on a Fed buyer in another
town on a Friday. He wanted to see me at 1 PM. I got there at 11 AM,
(Long story why) and checked in. The minority secretary told me he
would be with me shortly. I asked "pardon me" every hour. By 4 PM they
finally realized he left early morning as he was not feeling very well.
He wasn't even there! Then I had to spend another 4 hours getting home.
Don't get me started! I could tell you stories like this for a long
time. No, my respect for Government buyers is not too high! However,
dealing with large private companies was a blessing. I loved dealing
with them as they were all fair, honest, bright, and considerate.
Lee, w0vt
On 1/3/2017 11:33 PM, Richard Solomon wrote:
As one who spent almost 40 years
working on Government Contracts
(on the Management side), I can
tell you that the $500 Hammer is
a figment of someones vivid
imagination.
Cost Proposals, even for Fixed Price
contracts are carefully scrutinized and
must be fully documented. Even then,
the Government will ask for a "Best and
Final" Proposal.
However, this is starting to stray from
this forums charter, I will say no more.
73, Dick, W1KSZ
On Tue, Jan 3, 2017 at 10:11 PM, Jim Thomson <jim.thom@telus.net> wrote:
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2017 18:43:43 -0700
From: Richard Solomon <dickw1ksz@gmail.com>
To: towertalk <TowerTalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower price increase
You chaps are looking under the
wrong rock here.
With the potential of a large increase
in orders for use on the "Wall", this
is just the precursor to justify the
prices that will be charged to the
government.
73, Dick, W1KSZ
## Bingo, u just nailed it. Trumps 10 billion dollar wall, will
no doubt consist of a lot of security cameras etc, on tower
platforms. This is no different than the $500.00 hammers
from the 70s. Funny how business can make a killing, on
govt contracts.
## somebody should notify the GOP folks..that they are about
to be ripped off big time. No wonder the F-35 costs so much.
I found it amusing that as soon as trump said he wont pay huge
$$ for the F-35, the price dropped. Ditto with air force 1 and boeing.
## Its all a scam....and a real bad deal for the taxpayer. Extend that
for everything else, like roads, bridges, etc, etc.
Jim VE7RF
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|