http://www.recovery.gov/ is up (McD5 Thinks Biggest Heist in History!!!) (merged) MET

[@DCGoldPants]

Good concept...but...won't we only be able to see what they input into the website? How do we know if every single penny will be accounted for thru this website? They could forget to input a few million..whose going to know? Us?

That's the sad truth....and its how our Gov't works.

Something like 75 billion is missing from what we sent to Iraq. It would be nice if that wasn't the case and it could have brought this bill down that much. right? Ugh.

[gbear]

Cassow,

As for the minority or small bus winning the bids, they have to be able to show they can handle the entire contract or at the least be responcible for their completion. You can subcontract and you can even put that in your initial bid, but ultimately, your company better be both able to do the job and viewed as reliable. There are 2 C words used for this, but my MS and my tiredness is wrecking my word finding today. One I believe is competent.

As for why the gov didn't just find all the little guys, it's usually because it's viewed as one big project. There is a process where the little guys can petition for part of the original contract. They didn't or they weren't found to have the resources to make sure they kept their end of the bargain. The prime contractor is responcible if the project fails or is more expensive than they thought. As a semi interesting aside, part of the reason for the ability to petition for big contracts to be split was to allow the smaller or minority owned businesses get the contracts. While it seems you want to blaim the gov., the truth is in most cases the smaller guys could have petitioned for part of the contract and made more while saving the gov money. Some of the problems you are noting are on the free market not doing its job to drive the price down. At least that's how the cases in my class were presented.

Where I have bigger problems with gov contracting is in the oversight department. I think contracted companies are allowed way too much wiggle room due to lack of suficient oversight. The bidding process is there for all interested parties through many steps of the process in most cases. Just do things on time, because a min late is late.

[Rdskn4Lyf21]

:rotflmao:

Wait....this guy is in charge of it? http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/23/biden-oversee-stimulus-package-implementation/

If Bush or Palin did this they'd be getting thrashed everywhere, especially on here. Don't tell me there's a double standard!!

[Prosperity]

* Tax Relief - includes $15 B for Infrastructure and Science, $61 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $25 B for Education and Training and $22 B for Energy, so total funds are $126 B for Infrastructure and Science, $142 B for Protecting the Vulnerable, $78 B for Education and Training, and $65 B for Energy.

it's kind of confusing