NASA pays sky-high $66 a person for seminar snacks

AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/25/10 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

Houston, We have a problem.

We’re out of bagels and spread.

[Vision]

What I bet happened is the company had to bid ridiculously low, and then make their money on what they could markup.

[muawiyah]

Three days ~ probably 7 breaks ~ so that's about $9.50 each.

They could have just brought their own snacks with them and paid the hotel the standard fee of $10 a day eh!

Might actually be more now.

They have great snacks of course. Union labor. Fantastic location. Free parking.

[mlocher]

This is the AP response to counter criticism that Obama is scaling back on the NASA budget. Pretty wimpy response.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I confirmed the math. It was $66 per person per day.

If that covered all means at a good hotel, I’d say it was fine. But for ‘tween meal snacks, it seems ridiculous.

If someone suggests B’more is unusually expensive, I’d suggest we move federal agencies to regions where it doesn’t cost so much to feed their fat faces.

[Hodar]

A government watchdog says the nation's space agency paid ... price of $66 a person a day for bagels, cookies and juice at a conference. ... a training session for its procurement officials ... talking about how to determine reasonable prices.

File this under "Absolutely NO Clue". This is why we will never make it back to the moon again. But these people do have a bright future working in Gov't.

[norraad]

No wonder they could only afford to launch a flyin’ bread truck with bad O-rings all these years!

[Hodar]

317 attendees snacked on soda, coffee, fruit, bagels and cookies at a cost of more than $62,000.

Now I'm not a highly trained journalist .... just a silly engineer.

But if I divide $62,000 by 317 attendees; that works out to $195.58/person, not $66.

[ETL]

NASA’s $19 Million Toilet
Posted 7/9/2007
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2007-07/nasas-19-million-toilet

[green pastures]

The real expense was hiring that Martian catering service...

[NELSON111]

But if I divide $62,000 by 317 attendees; that works out to $195.58/person, not $66.

"The NASA Inspector General said that during the three-day conference in Baltimore in 2008, the 317 attendees snacked on soda, coffee, fruit, bagels and cookies at a cost of more than $62,000."

Dude...guess you hate word problems too (like me).

a=62,000 (dollars)

b=317 (attendees)

c=3 (days)

X=(a/b)/c

X=(62,000/317)/3

X=~$65

[norwaypinesavage]

$22 per day for snacks delivered by “Living Wage” employees. Sounds about right to me. Expect the same thing from all employees, once Obama unionizes them.

[Touch Not the Cat]

.
Did that include the auditorium?

Did they get a reduction on the room rates?

[Le Chien Rouge]

Follow the money:

1) Who authorized the purchasing of the snacks
2) who was the supplier of the snacks
3) WHAT IS THEIR CONNECTION??

It appears that some government/private contractor got a sweet deal from a ‘friend’ in NASA.

This happens often in the government world.

[WinMod70]

NASA must have finally ran out of TANG and rice crispy treats.

[ETL]

"during the three-day conference in Baltimore in 2008, the 317 attendees snacked on soda, coffee, fruit, bagels and cookies at a cost of more than $62,000"

Snacked? Sounds more they GORGED!

[Brett66]

That’s one small bagel for a man, one giant buffet for procurement.

[fireman15]

I guess they never heard of Costco.

[Tijeras_Slim]

I thought NASA bought LOX in bulk.