Re: Open comment to Ted Holden

[ads.com!saturn!bhanafee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Brian Hanafee)]

In article <spray.702841253@convex.convex.com> spray@convex.com (Rob Spray) wri
tes:
>In <1992Apr9.155334.20536@schaefer.math.wisc.edu> nedervol@schaefer.math.wisc.
edu (Eric Nedervold) writes:
>>Does this argument extend to hardware too?  Like $500 toilet seats?
>
>I believe that most of these popular DoD-bashing anecdotes are driven
>by:
>
> [first 3 reasons deleted]

d) Incomplete stories being told to the public by people such as Sen.
   Proxmire.  As I got the story (2nd hand from an ex-Lockheed
   employee), the famous $500 toilet seat was a part from the P-3
   Orion (a submarine chasing aircraft with a very long endurance).
   To reduce weight, all of the interior wall panels were molded from
   a Kevlar/resin material.  One of the moldings (for an entire wall
   panel) included the toilet seat as an integral part.  The entire
   custom wall panel cost $500.

e) Stockpiling requirements.  Since many DoD contracts require that
   the manufacturer be able to provide spares for many years, and the
   parts are often custom built, the price includes the cost of
   keeping the part in inventory for years at a time (usually cheaper
   than restarting the production line years into the contract for one
   or two parts).  Commercial companies avoid this problem by making
   customers buy entire new systems.


>--Rob   spray@convex.com
--
Brian Hanafee                         Advanced Decision Systems
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