The Wrong Contractor

by CKR

Once again, the urge to stay within the bureaucratic comfort zone has spent a lot of money for results that are nothing much.

Boeing, the builder of USA 193, that new-concept spy satellite that never functioned properly and was shot down last week, has now failed to deliver what it promised in the famous "virtual fence" along the US-Mexican border.

The Bush administration has scaled back plans to quickly build a "virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexico border, delaying completion of the first phase of the project by at least three years and shifting away from a network of tower-mounted sensors and surveillance gear, federal officials said yesterday.

That bureaucratic comfort zone is defined by the guys they've done business with before, the murmur of congressional desires for jobs in my district everpresent, and, occasionally, the hope of big bucks with a contractor in life after government. So Boeing it is, never mind that they've never built a satellite, never mind that they've never done border (or any other kind of) surveillance.

Over budget and behind schedule. That's not an element of the comfort zone. Too bad for the taxpayers.

[I'll question if we need that "virtual fence," too. But that's another post.]

Comments

[J.]

Well, obviously you don't love America if you're not willing to erect high walls at both borders and with fireproof crocodiles in burning moats. Don't you know, "over budget and behind schedule" is what we in the defense acquisition business calls "status quo." This means we need throw more money at the program until eventually technology catches up with our Leaders' political wishes.

I kid, but it is a miserable thing when both Dems and Repugs are too afraid of being accused of coddling illegals if they don't all chime in on fence-building. This was never a good idea, but local politics and industry greed got the best of Congress. Again.