Posted on 07/21/2009 8:56:11 AM PDT by EricTheRed_VocalMinority
Earlier today I relayed a Drudge Report story about questionable expenditures from the stimulus package, including $1.44 million for the repair of a door at Dyess AFB in Texas. You can imagine my surprise when later today I received in my comments box a letter from Captain Will Powell, the Chief of Public Affairs at this base. The comment reads:
Good afternoon. My name is Captain Will Powell, Chief of Public Affairs at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.
We strive to be good stewards of taxpayer money, and I ask for your help in correcting the record where others may believe we are not taking this responsibility seriously.
While viewing your blog today, I noticed information posted regarding a contract titled "$1,444,100 for Repair Door Bldg 5112." This statement is actually misleading. Recovery.gov mistakenly combined two contracts into one that were both awarded with stimulus money to AFCO Technologies after they won a competitive bid. AFCO received a contract to repair four natural gas lines valued at $1,198,000 and another contract to repair a six-panel hangar door that provides cover for an opening of 150 feet wide. The cost of the hangar door is $246,000, which includes the repair of an electrical drive mechanism, safety devices, door seals, painting, cable and pulley system, control system and other items. The hangar door repair will ensure the continued
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It would have been better if they specified a regular wooden or metal door leading into a building, or a hangar door which is known to be quite large.
I am glad they corrected it. I can understand the cost of the door Given the nature of the door repair.
Are you serious? A quarter of a million dollars will build houses including land and utilities. This is one door.
‘Are you serious? A quarter of a million dollars will build houses including land and utilities. This is one door. “
I take it you have never actually seen a hanger. Ya know the things they keep planes in.
Well, okay, I admit I am not familiar with costs. He is talking about control systems, pulley systems, etc and it is a wide door.
So maybe it is the equivalent of the 600 dollar hammer but I thought it sounded reasonable.
Should not this have been under Department of Defense appropriations instead of “stimulus package”?
Back in the Nineties, I worked on an escalator modernization contract for the State of Illinois which actually entailed the entire replacement of the escalators. ‘Modernization’ made it sound like a simple overhaul or repair, which it was until we found the original escalator was imported from Germany. Eventually, the project included elevators as well: replacing programming circuits, software, cables, and electronics.
A project that I thought would only take a year or two stretched out to seven years thanks to growing complexity and lack of funding during the process.
Yes, I have. If they were completely replacing the door and installing a completely new open/close system I might believe it. But, this is repair not replace. I have been doing industrial maintenance for over thirty years. I know what a reasonable repair sounds like.
This is of course, the government. Contractors are required to pay union scale even if the company is non-union.
The cost of the hangar door is $246,000, which includes the repair of an electrical drive mechanism, safety devices, door seals, painting, cable and pulley system, control system and other items.
It doesn't even say any repairs are to be done to the door except for paint and seals.
It's not that bad. It's still pretty high though.
"If our government is going to ensure the American people that our tax dollars are being spent wisely, the least they can do is make sure the information on the Recovery.gov website is accurate."
Hey man, why be so critical of www.recovery.gov ?
After all, they only had a paltry $18 million to set up the website! /sarc
The door is 150 feet wide and tall enough to get a B-1 Bomber through.
It's square footage is more than many houses and more than some lots the houses are on. Repairing it is not the equivalent of fixing a gourmet meal, but it's not a TV dinner either.
I have taught electronics at Dyess on two occasions and the people who work there are sane reasonable Airmen and officers. Have never associate with better people.
Watching a B-1B take off at night and feeling the rumble from the engine exhaust is awesome.
“AFCO Technologies, Inc. is a small, disadvantaged, Native American owned business that has for twenty plus months been certified by the US Small Business Administration as an 8(a) contractor in accordance with the Amended Small Business Act, and because of that, is also certified by that Agency as a Small Disadvantaged Business. As an 8(a) contractor AFCO is eligible for non-competitive set-aside awards. The company has also been certified by the US Small Business Administration and The State of Texas as a Historically. Underutilized Business as part of the HUBZONE Contracting Empowerment Program. AFCO has been certified by. the City. of San Antonio, Texas as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and has received certification by. The Texas Department of Transportation as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE).”
Now this is starting to make sense.
‘$246,000, which includes the repair of an electrical drive mechanism, safety devices, door seals, painting, cable and pulley system, control system and other items”
Sounds like they are rebuilding the thing. I do govt contracts and never seem to get one of the sweet heart deals. Those go to the friends of Senators.
bookmark
I know Will Powell he’s a good guy
Not really, if you are a small business you HAVE to claim some kind of special category. Unless you have friends in high places you will never get any business otherwise.
Oh and small business has to go with lower rates than the big contractors.
Your assessment is not off-base. The hangar doors for Air Force installations are not the same as for commercial aviation. I have been to Edwards AFB and there are some pretty complex doors there; on some, the electronics and mechanicals alone are probably worth $250,000.
Earlier this year, I finished an interior design project which combined two condos into one large 3,200 s.f. unit along Chicago’s lakefront. High-end appliances and plumbing fixtures, Italian and Japanese tile, computer- and phone-controlled showers and whirlpools, etc. Cost: $1.4 million. The demolition work alone was $40,000.
who owns the company that won the contract to repair?
246k is nothing in the scheme of things. there are many bigger areas where a lot more $$ goes wasted.
Personally I’d like the door protecting a multi-million dollar aircraft to work properly.
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