I am not shocked or surprised by the recent events surrounding the F-22 program and the subsequent news about the status of the F-35 program. I’ve written about the problems in federal contracting before, others have echoed the sentiments and the F-35 program is no different. I could name a number of other large programs in the space (with similar company names attached) that have failed or are failing and experiencing cost overruns and in the end not meeting the needs of our nation. Don’t get me wrong – there are problems on many sides of this issue. The government, in my opinion, lacks the capability to effective manage these programs – either by their sheer size and scope or through a lack of qualified talent. This post expands upon that issue better than I could do.

I don’t want to take away from the larger point that the Volgi is making: we’re experiencing a political bait-and-switch deal with the cancellation of the F-22 program – one that potentially damages our national security in the near term. But maybe a more critical problem, especially in the era of Big Government, is what is the effectiveness of this larger federal workforce given where we are already. Is a larger federal workforce going to be better about managing these programs? Will a larger force draw the better talent to more effectively manage the hungry contractors fighting for every dime they can get? I doubt it.

There’s pockets of hope out there, though. So cross your fingers that federal acquisition strategies improve to help avoid the embarrasing situations that we seem to get in with bloated programs like the 2010 Census, the F-35, and others.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.