AP Exclusive: Weather Service officials installed faulty storm-detecting r

AP Exclusive: Weather Service officials installed faulty storm-detecting radar

LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer Saturday, December 27, 2003

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(12-27) 10:16 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The National Weather Service bought and installed defective equipment designed to keep power flowing to storm-detecting radar, then quietly replaced the problem system by paying the same contractor for replacements, government documents show.

An internal investigation has concluded Weather Service officials "seriously mishandled" the contract by paying for the failed units, rather than forcing the contractor to cover the costs as a government lawyer had repeatedly urged.

The probe also found officials bought the second set of equipment without considering competitive bidding, and made no mention of the decision to pay for defective equipment in official records, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

"How easy it was for a handful of people to violate established public policy for contracting," said Robert Curtis, the Weather Service contracting specialist for the original contract and the settlement. During that process, Curtis complained to a top official that the settlement he was ordered to write would improperly pay the contractor for the defective equipment. Curtis then was fired; the reasons for his dismissal are in litigation.

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Don't they have laws against this sort of thing, or they did before Bush!!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/27/national1316EST0513.DTL

........nonsense is going on anywhere, where a Bush resides, working for the state of florida I could tell you accounts of fraud ,waste, and cronyism that would leave you speechless. This is not at all uncommon. It's all about feeding the right wing machine, whatever it takes at ANY cost! Whether it's voting machines,roads, bridges, contracts for maintenance, it doesn't matter. It's all about keeping the money flowing to the republiCON coffers.

They got rid of the guy who exposed the cover up of it.

You blow a whistle or raise a flag, and you're gone!

were in this business!

...can comprehend, but it doesn't make very interesting reading.

This is similar to the business I'm in, and here's what usually happens:

The purchasing specifications for the project get written by two or three different engineers, sometimes in different firms or in different offices. One guy understands part of the project requirements, and someone else understands the other part.

The vendor reads the "specs" and supplies equipment that meets the specs as he/she understands them, taking the least expensive option in case of doubt.

The equipment doesn't perform properly, because the purchasing specifications don't match up to the actual needs of the job.

Oops!

And many times the least expensive course is to go back to the original vendor, because his/her equipment will bolt right in, where everyone else's equipment will require that new wires be pulled, a different cabinet bought, and new thingamajobbers be welded to the whatchamacallits. Besides, the vendor may buy back the old stuff, because it's perfectly good equipment - it just doesn't work for this application.

Trust me - this crap happens all the time. It's embarrassing for the engineering staff involved, but that's about as interesting as it gets.