Department of Government Efficiency - DOGE

[lawgator1]

So just like immigration

Everyone agreed that immigration needed reform, too. It's been a question of how.

 

[Willy P]

I found one that could possibly be canceled.

 

[LSU-SIU]

Everyone agreed that immigration needed reform, too. It's been a question of how.

Or just enforce current law, if you don't enforce the law it doesn't matter as to the words.

 

[Willy P]

Actually, SpaceX's contract awards so far this year are at least $104M.

 

[InVOLuntary]

Everyone agreed that immigration needed reform, too. It's been a question of how.

Shutting down the border, not suing states in order to prevent states from installing deterrence measures would have been a good start.

 

[LSU-SIU]

Actually, SpaceX's contract awards so far this year are at least $104M.

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There really is no competition yet for SpaceX especially domestic, not really. Boeing is just wasting money from us and themselves.

 

[lawgator1]

Shutting down the border, not suing states in order to prevent states from installing deterrence measures would have been a good start.

If an Dem controlled County announced it's own immigration policies, at odds with those of Trump, this administration would sue it as well, and on the same theory.

 

[jwells]

I would accept it as a service, if it actually worked reliably for most of this country. but it doesn't. spending more money on it has never increased the efficiency of it.

Over 80% is labor. 20% everything else. Having this service his EVERY house EVERY day but Sunday is labor intensive and not very efficient. You're also staffing an office in EVERY town. Of course it's gonna lose money. Small town offices probably bring in 1% of their budget in revenue. But that's the cost of providing a service.
They tried to drop Saturday delivery in 2013, but Congress shut it down. How can they reign in costs when they're beholden to the same group that keeps us producing Abrams tanks, despite the Army saying it has plenty?

What would fix things up? End Saturday delivery, and move for mail boxes per block of homes, rather than home to home for letter delivery. But people would **** and they'd never be allowed to make it happen.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

Interesting. How do they deconflict potential collisions? I assume we will still maintain the vertical separation limits and N/S E/W direction assigned altitudes?

Vertical separation will remain at 1000’ for the foreseeable future. Direction of flight in the North Atlantic will be time of day dependent like it is now.

im on a stupid iPad right now. When I get back to my keyboard I will edit and write more

Edit: OK. back on a laptop. Airliners all have new transponding technology called ADS-B. That allows ATC to interrogate not only what the airplane is doing, where it is etc, but what it is 'planning' to do. They know our entire route of flight based on what ia entered into our flight management (autopilot) systems. Over the oceans, we offset from the planned route of flight in order to avoid wake turbulence and ATC will even know the distance from the centerline of the route that we are at any given time. There have been crews that received violations because they put a different altitude into their autopilot, and ATC knew about it before they ever executed the command. It would be like you putting 80MPH into your cruise control in your car, and the cops launching a car from HQ to pull you over for speeding.

So this is all space based stuff. They know EXACTLY where we are at any given moment. When I started we had to do position reports at every 10 degrees of longitude on HF radio.... CB frequencies... Those are affected by sun spots, solar flares etc, and were a royal pain in the ass. Now, ATC gets it all from satellite links. Our navigation is so good that we have a tolerance of 60 feet in most cases. They have tightened up the 'highways' across the Atlantic so airplanes are closer than they were 5 years ago. That helps with fuel economy due to winds and weather. It is necessary because there are over 2000 flights/day going between US and Europe. Crazy stuff.

I think I have posted this before, and it is an old computer generated 'movie', but I think it is a pretty good representation of what it used to be like. Now it is even more crowded. You can see that the direction of flight changes as the day progresses.


Click on the 'learn more' button and you will see the video

 

[Orange_Crush]

If an Dem controlled County announced it's own immigration policies, at odds with those of Trump, this administration would sue it as well, and on the same theory.

Are they all suing over "my policy", or failure to implement federal law.

Is there a difference between?

"You're bring sued because you refuse to implement federal law."
"You're being sued because you are trying to implement federal law."

 

[ButchPlz]

This is a clip of the purchase card memo that went out. Note that the "0.1%" metric seems to be pretty random and doesn't really account for clinicians that use them or logisticians that buy with them. They set all card limits to $1, and are shutting them all down fully tomorrow (whether exceptions are processed or not).

 

[volkyries]

This is a vast oversimplification of what was cut, and he walked back the termination process already today. I already said this guy is apparently a moron and he's proven it to be true.

Part of the "powerpoint slides" and "notetaking" that got cut included the contract support for the contract management system, IT support for supply chain systems, the contractors backing the suicide help desk and remote care lines, and oversight/acquisition support (read: legal and metrics tracking) for major supplies contracts. Prime vendor contracts for supplies and equipment are also supposedly being targeted, which leaves the facilities with no legal options for buying supplies. Other things include the IT/warehouse modernization work that's in process aimed at putting in things like RFID supplies tracking to help bring the VA out of 1975, which was shut down overnight and would likely save the VA billions a year in wasted/expired supplies. This is on top of the purchase card pause I noted yesterday, meaning there are facilities that literally cannot access the procurement tools they need to get supplies.

Again, there is waste and abuse in the VA. Wholesale cutting 800+ contracts because an algorithm says the contract wording doesn't match the mission is not the way to do it in a place that's critical for part of our population.

Was one of these your contracts? I get the love for veterans as I am one, but don't get any government handouts for it, and almost my whole family has/is serving with a few on disability now, but this seems a bit more than we got to do it for the veterans.

 

[ButchPlz]

Was one of these your contracts? I get the love for veterans as I am one, but don't get any government handouts for it, and almost my whole family has/is serving with a few on disability now, but this seems a bit more than we got to do it for the veterans.

One of my team's contracts was cut, but it wasn't my "primary" job so at the end of the day no harm no foul.

The issue I take is that as part of that contract I was helping with the supplies contracts and modernization that was going on. Right now VA hospital supply systems are literally run on a system from the 1970s, and I track literally half a billion in expired supplies that get tossed yearly because once supplies hit a VA facility warehouse door there is no usage tracking or planning inside the hospital. I mean literally none- the capability doesn't exist.

We were in the middle of helping VHA's contracting arm to re-write prime vendor contracts to put a band-aid on this issue by shifting more inventory to be vendor-managed and JIT delivery, reducing the need to keep stuff in the facilities where it would expire. Another project we were on was actually helping lay out the facility warehouses and manage secondary inventory points. Literally all of those contracts- from the major vehicles to the small ones training both logisticians and clinicians on how to manage supplies- are gone.

Now, the issue really comes to the front when you combine the fact that current prime vendor contracts don't have strong performance measures nor do they strongly incentivize performance, so this admin has them on the chopping block (fine). There are no backstops for those contracts (not fine, needs to be fixed) other than purchase cards, which are now effectively shut off. If a contract is paused, and the backstop is gone, what happens? As of today (Feb 27), something like 60% of supplies across the 180-ish hospitals and 2,000+ clinics are bought on those cards because the contracts are not great. And there's really no way to get stuff contracted fast because of the requirements Congress has put in place.

The other problem is that the government for the last X decades has been set up where contractors have basically all the institutional knowledge (i.e., regulatory, medical products movements, data analysis, etc., which is not fine). But because these contracts were just eliminated overnight, the institutional knowledge is just gone. And you better believe many of the best people will not walk back into the shitshow. The smartest way to do it would have been build a 6-month offramp and planned this stuff.

 

[LouderVol]

Just a heads up- the VA IT systems contracts were part of the "note taking" and "powerpoint" contracts that got cut. They also shut down the suicide support contract today, so that line is not available.

It appears that the new head of the VA is a moron.

man, its almost like they are going too fast. and that all these cuts aren't the guaranteed wins we were promised just to get the cutting started.

 

[LouderVol]

And yet he didn't cancel or ban their ability to write anything they please (within the law). FREEDOM of Press deals with... get this... FREEDOMS. Which they still fully have.

it was an issue when Obama did it with Fox News. it was such an issue that Obama had to reverse himself.

now yall are cheering it.

 

[volkyries]

One of my team's contracts was cut, but it wasn't my "primary" job so at the end of the day no harm no foul.

The issue I take is that as part of that contract I was helping with the supplies contracts and modernization that was going on. Right now VA hospital supply systems are literally run on a system from the 1970s, and I track literally half a billion in expired supplies that get tossed yearly because once supplies hit a VA facility warehouse door there is no usage tracking or planning inside the hospital. I mean literally none- the capability doesn't exist.

We were in the middle of helping VHA's contracting arm to re-write prime vendor contracts to put a band-aid on this issue by shifting more inventory to be vendor-managed and JIT delivery, reducing the need to keep stuff in the facilities where it would expire. Another project we were on was actually helping lay out the facility warehouses and manage secondary inventory points. Literally all of those contracts- from the major vehicles to the small ones training both logisticians and clinicians on how to manage supplies- are gone.

Now, the issue really comes to the front when you combine the fact that current prime vendor contracts don't have strong performance measures nor do they strongly incentivize performance, so this admin has them on the chopping block (fine). There are no backstops for those contracts (not fine, needs to be fixed) other than purchase cards, which are now effectively shut off. If a contract is paused, and the backstop is gone, what happens? As of today (Feb 27), something like 60% of supplies across the 180-ish hospitals and 2,000+ clinics are bought on those cards because the contracts are not great. And there's really no way to get stuff contracted fast because of the requirements Congress has put in place.

The other problem is that the government for the last X decades has been set up where contractors have basically all the institutional knowledge (i.e., regulatory, medical products movements, data analysis, etc., which is not fine). But because these contracts were just eliminated overnight, the institutional knowledge is just gone. And you better believe many of the best people will not walk back into the shitshow. The smartest way to do it would have been build a 6-month offramp and planned this stuff.

So yes, it is personal because it is affecting your company, lol. Glad to see the VA putting up with the same crap as the rest of the government, if you are going to burn it down, burn it all together.

 

[ButchPlz]

man, its almost like they are going too fast. and that all these cuts aren't the guaranteed wins we were promised just to get the cutting started.

They're using a machine learning model to "read" contracts and the funding they're linked to. If the contract or TO doesn't have a certain amount of language that matches the "mission" of the agency, they're sending out terminations. Very little human review.

The problem is that "IT support" or "supply chain management" or "Veteran suicide prevention" aren't part of the VA "mission", but are critical for operations. Then you've also got the fact that most of the burn pit support contracts got blown away this week... and here we are.

 

[LouderVol]

Over 80% is labor. 20% everything else. Having this service his EVERY house EVERY day but Sunday is labor intensive and not very efficient. You're also staffing an office in EVERY town. Of course it's gonna lose money. Small town offices probably bring in 1% of their budget in revenue. But that's the cost of providing a service.
They tried to drop Saturday delivery in 2013, but Congress shut it down. How can they reign in costs when they're beholden to the same group that keeps us producing Abrams tanks, despite the Army saying it has plenty?

What would fix things up? End Saturday delivery, and move for mail boxes per block of homes, rather than home to home for letter delivery. But people would **** and they'd never be allowed to make it happen.

USPS has been serving those small towns its whole existence. its efficiency decreasing is a newer phenomenon. back in the day you could count on ALL of your mail showing up on time, and everything was via mail. no email or paperless autopay. EVERYTHING was in the mail, and USPS did a better job.

but now that there is less mail, they are less efficient? and at least here around Atlanta they have spent a good bit of money trying to improve the system and automations, but its not having a noticeable impact. something is clearly up.

 

[ButchPlz]

So yes, it is personal because it is affecting your company, lol. Glad to see the VA putting up with the same crap as the rest of the government, if you are going to burn it down, burn it all together.

...the VA administrator literally walked back the entire process, asking for cuts to be paused because they're "terminating" critical contracts. If you're cool with VHA facilities having to pay double market price for supplies, or continuing to half to throw away stuff that expires, good for you. But cutting a handful of contracts adding up to a couple hundred million over 4-5 years and losing access to probably a billion a year in savings seems silly, no?

"Burn it all down" is well and good until it costs you more in the long run. But that's the way of America these days, I guess. Perhaps you are one that needs access to the burn pit support, considering the brain damage it apparently left on you?

 

[CobbVol]

I'm not sure I have correctly connected the dots, but the reports have been that the Biden administration was shoveling money out the door as fast as possible after the election to torpedo Trump. Does that money count in the budget they're passing now?

We are in the Biden approved budget until Sept 30 of this year.

 

[utvolpj]

One of my team's contracts was cut, but it wasn't my "primary" job so at the end of the day no harm no foul.

The issue I take is that as part of that contract I was helping with the supplies contracts and modernization that was going on. Right now VA hospital supply systems are literally run on a system from the 1970s, and I track literally half a billion in expired supplies that get tossed yearly because once supplies hit a VA facility warehouse door there is no usage tracking or planning inside the hospital. I mean literally none- the capability doesn't exist.

We were in the middle of helping VHA's contracting arm to re-write prime vendor contracts to put a band-aid on this issue by shifting more inventory to be vendor-managed and JIT delivery, reducing the need to keep stuff in the facilities where it would expire. Another project we were on was actually helping lay out the facility warehouses and manage secondary inventory points. Literally all of those contracts- from the major vehicles to the small ones training both logisticians and clinicians on how to manage supplies- are gone.

Now, the issue really comes to the front when you combine the fact that current prime vendor contracts don't have strong performance measures nor do they strongly incentivize performance, so this admin has them on the chopping block (fine). There are no backstops for those contracts (not fine, needs to be fixed) other than purchase cards, which are now effectively shut off. If a contract is paused, and the backstop is gone, what happens? As of today (Feb 27), something like 60% of supplies across the 180-ish hospitals and 2,000+ clinics are bought on those cards because the contracts are not great. And there's really no way to get stuff contracted fast because of the requirements Congress has put in place.

The other problem is that the government for the last X decades has been set up where contractors have basically all the institutional knowledge (i.e., regulatory, medical products movements, data analysis, etc., which is not fine). But because these contracts were just eliminated overnight, the institutional knowledge is just gone. And you better believe many of the best people will not walk back into the shitshow. The smartest way to do it would have been build a 6-month offramp and planned this stuff.

Sounds like we do similar work (but I'm not govt). Based on reading it seems much more savings always come from making the system better instead of cutting it. This is what your going to get when the people stare at a screen with numbers without having any real world experience. Sure those 19yo doge guys can crawl data and build a fancy dashboard but there needs to be understanding of what is being done. Even just explaining to offshore devs is a chore

I said that from the beginning that simply taking an axe to whole systems would be a disaster.

 

[Orange_Crush]

it was an issue when Obama did it with Fox News. it was such an issue that Obama had to reverse himself.

now yall are cheering it.

"Ya'll"?

I don't recall giving Obama issues about it. If I would have, it would not have been on FotP gounds.

"Cheering"?

I defended it against wrongful claims that it's a FREEDOM of the Press issue. I think I posted somewhere in this conversation that it's a bad look.

 

[ButchPlz]

Sounds like we do similar work (but I'm not govt). Based on reading it seems much more savings always come from making the system better instead of cutting it. This is what your going to get when the people stare at a screen with numbers without having any real world experience. Sure those 19yo doge guys can crawl data and build a fancy dashboard but there needs to be understanding of what is being done. I said that from the beginning that simply taking an are to whole systems would be a disaster.

I do about 3/4 government and 1/4 commercial, little bit of VA, DoD, and quick drop-in/drop-out commercial contracts. I've said before there's a lot that needs to be cut. Nobody disagrees with that. But there has to be some disentangling of what's actually critical and what isn't. The one that really terrifies me, and again I've said it over and over, is this wholesale purchase card stop. It's insane.

Should those be a primary tool for getting supplies? Absolutely not. But you can't say "lol can't use those, burn it all down!" when there's not really any capacity anywhere else to make purchases. Private hospitals don't even try to function this way.

 

[Orange_Crush]

We are in the Biden approved budget until Sept 30 of this year.

I was talking about the Rs' proposed budget that they are getting **** about. Is it just that they can't help themselves? or are they having to incorporate some of the $$$s that Biden was shoveling out in the last days of his office?

 

[lawgator1]

Are they all suing over "my policy", or failure to implement federal law.

Is there a difference between?

"You're bring sued because you refuse to implement federal law."
"You're being sued because you are trying to implement federal law."

A distinction without a difference because if the administration then -in-power thinks the state or locals are at odds with them, their DOJ is going to sue.