$70 million seems low if the “staff” is 2,590 people.
Averages 27k. Even if you have 500 of them over 100k, 2000 people splitting 20 million doesn’t add up. I bet they left off a zero.
A little over $27,000 a year per FTE. That’s really cheap to for running two testing programs. Sounds like the taxpayers are getting a real bargain.
You need to understand DoD accounting. There is a seperate personnel budget. The $70M is their walking around money - to ay for offices supplies, official travel, etc., outside consultants, etc
I thought the $70m cost estimate was low, also. Having spent four years in DC, I figured that the estimate didn’t include the salaries of the military personnel assigned to the project. It’s actually worse than that: it doesn’t include the salaries of the civilians either.
From the article:
“The JPO staffing numbers were requested by US Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Senator John McCain, an outspoken F-35 critic, who said at the hearing on 26 April that the programme’s record of performance ‘has been both a scandal and a tragedy’.”
“The information that I have is it’s nearly 3,000 [staff] and the cost is $300 million a year. But $70 million a year to run an office is pretty disturbing,” McCain said in response the JPO numbers.
‘I think the difference between the number Senator McCain mentioned, at least on the dollar side, is the bill for navy and air force civilians and military personnel. [That bill] doesn’t come to me.’