MOD paying £22 for a 65p light bulb
Discussion
Did anybody spot the main culprit here...
‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
rover 623gsi said:
Did anybody spot the main culprit here...
‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
GuinnessMK said:
I thought this had been explained in the film Independance Day?
They "pay" £100 for a screwdriver, but £99 goes towards our intergalactic starship / space based "laser" defence / teleporter device?
No? Really, they just waste billions of our taxes?
No wonder there isn't enough money left in the pot for armoured vehicles or body armour to protect the lads at the front line.
Shame.
I never understood that sentence in the film until you just explained it They "pay" £100 for a screwdriver, but £99 goes towards our intergalactic starship / space based "laser" defence / teleporter device?
No? Really, they just waste billions of our taxes?
No wonder there isn't enough money left in the pot for armoured vehicles or body armour to protect the lads at the front line.
Shame.
Just been working on a gov project.
I priced the system at around £200k, that includes mark-up and PS.
It goes via the 'purchasing process' Mouchel etc and I'm now sat in a meeting with the customer trying to justify why the price is £500k.
errrr because someone (Mouchel I expect) is taking the piss?
I priced the system at around £200k, that includes mark-up and PS.
It goes via the 'purchasing process' Mouchel etc and I'm now sat in a meeting with the customer trying to justify why the price is £500k.
errrr because someone (Mouchel I expect) is taking the piss?
rover 623gsi said:
Did anybody spot the main culprit here...
‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
Oh please.. Just please. Are you seriously suggesting that public servants were unable to see how crap the contracts were when they signed them? They signed them cos they didn't CARE! ‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
Now, would you like to show us on this dolly where the nasty private sector people touched you?
rover 623gsi said:
do you not think that someone charging £22.51 for a lightbulb that costs 65pence is taking the piss?
btw - I’m not convinced that this story is what it seems, but that is perhaps another point...
OK I'll bite. Assuming that the story is as it is being presented, do you not think that at the stage before signing the contract somebody in the public sector might have gone " 22 quid for a light bulb, are you sure Mr PFI man?" btw - I’m not convinced that this story is what it seems, but that is perhaps another point...
Or are we to assume that public sector employees are so anaesthetised from the real world that a £22 looks like a bargain?!?!
I suspect that the answer is that the public sector employees who negotiated these contracts simply didn't care how much they spent. Not their money, if they run out just tax the private sector some more.. "After all I've got my public sector pay package, flexitime, 8 weeks holidays and index linked pension I paid sod all into to fall back on if I have to leave in a hurry, and besides the baby eating Tories will be in power before the chickens come home to roost so everyone will blame the private sector anyway - Result!"
At the place I worked last, a bunch of idiot managers decided to procure hosting from a certain company for an unfeasibly s
t and laughably expensive piece of software. They didn't bother consulting people who knew a damn about this and who'd done it for 20 years (e.g. me and my team), they just did it. Now aside from the fact the software was the worst I've ever seen by a country mile, they decided to have the company host it remotely for £50K per year, locked into a 5 year contract. When they later ran out of money (no, really, they literally ran out of money) and started querying where the existing money was going, I was happy to point out that a far better hosting solution could have been found for £1200 per year, or one option might have been to use our own brand new state-of-the-art £300K+ virtual server set up at the cost of approximately two man days per year (£250). But no, they preferred to chuck away quarter of a mil for no reason. And believe me, that was a tiny tiny proportion of the money they wasted every year.
t and laughably expensive piece of software. They didn't bother consulting people who knew a damn about this and who'd done it for 20 years (e.g. me and my team), they just did it. Now aside from the fact the software was the worst I've ever seen by a country mile, they decided to have the company host it remotely for £50K per year, locked into a 5 year contract. When they later ran out of money (no, really, they literally ran out of money) and started querying where the existing money was going, I was happy to point out that a far better hosting solution could have been found for £1200 per year, or one option might have been to use our own brand new state-of-the-art £300K+ virtual server set up at the cost of approximately two man days per year (£250). But no, they preferred to chuck away quarter of a mil for no reason. And believe me, that was a tiny tiny proportion of the money they wasted every year.
rover 623gsi said:
do you not think that someone charging £22.51 for a lightbulb that costs 65pence is taking the piss?
Of course it is, but if you went into B&Q and they were charging £22 for a light bulb would you buy one?I work in IT and part of the "game" with servers and storage, in fact most things, is to have a "list" price so the vendors can claim they're giving you a fantastic discount - it's weird and I don't like it but it's just the way it is.
Servers and storage are a little different to light bulbs though.
Nowt new under the sun. The problem is bureaucracy though.
For example in a previous life I worked on a project involved with certain missiles. The MOD wanted to order a new batch of something they'd had for a long while.
Anyway on the drawings for these missiles one component was specified to be made out of a particular grade of material. The problem was that since this drawing had been done British Standards had changed, the BS referred to on the drawing had been superseded by a new one, not just a later revision but a complete revamp. We can't even blame the European Union for that.
Of course the approved suppliers said, "this material is no longer readily available, it can be made of course, but it's a special bespoke manufacture, the minimum quantity is 100 tonnes," or something daft, and so on and so on.
So as a young graduate was given the task of figuring out what to do and comparing the old and new specs bla bla bla. It was obvious when you looked closely that it was better to do a drawing modification allowing the new version of the old grade, it was a better material and in reality the change would neither hinder nor improve the eventual live firing performance of said missile. Couple that with the material was more or less available off the shelf and in the quantity that was wanted, then this was clearly the way to go.
Because changing the drawing was such a drag, some tt signed a special order for 100 tonnes of the old stuff at a zillion dollars per kg, 99 tonnes of it are probably still sitting somewhere in an old hanger waiting to be weighed in by pikeys.
For example in a previous life I worked on a project involved with certain missiles. The MOD wanted to order a new batch of something they'd had for a long while.
Anyway on the drawings for these missiles one component was specified to be made out of a particular grade of material. The problem was that since this drawing had been done British Standards had changed, the BS referred to on the drawing had been superseded by a new one, not just a later revision but a complete revamp. We can't even blame the European Union for that.
Of course the approved suppliers said, "this material is no longer readily available, it can be made of course, but it's a special bespoke manufacture, the minimum quantity is 100 tonnes," or something daft, and so on and so on.
So as a young graduate was given the task of figuring out what to do and comparing the old and new specs bla bla bla. It was obvious when you looked closely that it was better to do a drawing modification allowing the new version of the old grade, it was a better material and in reality the change would neither hinder nor improve the eventual live firing performance of said missile. Couple that with the material was more or less available off the shelf and in the quantity that was wanted, then this was clearly the way to go.
Because changing the drawing was such a drag, some t
t signed a special order for 100 tonnes of the old stuff at a zillion dollars per kg, 99 tonnes of it are probably still sitting somewhere in an old hanger waiting to be weighed in by pikeys.story updated
Ministry of Defence denies 'paying £22 for 65p bulb'
The Ministry of Defence has dismissed newspaper reports that it has been paying more than £20 for light bulbs that can be bought for 65p elsewhere.
It insists the bulbs are highly specialised parts for a radar system.
A MoD spokesman said: "It was a precision-made lamp filament for the Watchman radar. The MoD purchases about five per year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12643966
Ministry of Defence denies 'paying £22 for 65p bulb'
The Ministry of Defence has dismissed newspaper reports that it has been paying more than £20 for light bulbs that can be bought for 65p elsewhere.
It insists the bulbs are highly specialised parts for a radar system.
A MoD spokesman said: "It was a precision-made lamp filament for the Watchman radar. The MoD purchases about five per year."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12643966
Updated again!
"The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
"The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
Mazdarese said:
Updated again!
"The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
Came to light. Hmm."The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
carmonk said:
Mazdarese said:
Updated again!
"The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
Came to light. Hmm."The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
carmonk said:
Mazdarese said:
Updated again!
"The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
Came to light. Hmm."The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.
It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light."
andymadmak said:
rover 623gsi said:
Did anybody spot the main culprit here...
‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
Oh please.. Just please. Are you seriously suggesting that public servants were unable to see how crap the contracts were when they signed them? They signed them cos they didn't CARE! ‘...specialist contractors sourced items for the military and added their costs on to the price’
This is private sector profiteering from delivering public services. And arch hypocrytes Liam Fox and the Tory led Condem Government wants more public services opened up to the private sector. Be ready for more expensive public services, not the reverse
Now, would you like to show us on this dolly where the nasty private sector people touched you?
It comes out of my Council Tax I believe but it must be a good thing because it's private sector and if they're earning a lot they pay a lot of tax, which is great apparently (I read that on here)
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