The Pentagon Set To Spend Nearly $1 Billion At ‘Grok For Government’ And Other AI Companies

 

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"TASK AND PURPOSE" By Matt White

"The Pentagon announced it is going to spend almost $1 billion on “agentic AI workflows” from four “frontier AI” companies, including Elon Musk’s xAI, whose flagship Grok appeared to be declaring itself “MechaHitler”.

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"In a press release, the Defense Department’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office — or CDAO — said it will cut checks of up to $200 million each to tech giants Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and Musk’s xAI to work on:

• “critical national security challenges;”
• “joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain;”
• “DoD use cases.”

The release did not expand on what any of that means or how AI might help. Task & Purpose reached out to the Pentagon for details on what these AI agents may soon be doing and asked specifically if the contracts would include control of live weapons systems or classified information.

A Defense official responded, saying that “Awards to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI will enable the Department to leverage the technology and talent of U.S. frontier AI companies to develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas, including warfighting, intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems.” 

That term, “Frontier AI,” the official said, referred to “companies [that] lead development of the most advanced AI models and technologies, conduct insightful research into the use of frontier AI, and pioneer efforts to address both the potential benefits and risks of frontier AI technologies.”

Unanswered was whether any of the “agentic AI” will be tasked with “warfighting” directly — flying planes, shooting missiles, etc. — or if its all gonna be other stuff, like payroll or checking IDs at the gate or similiar mundane tasks that could not possibly screw up your life if an AI did it wrong.

But there are some hints. The release noted that the CDAO will also be “providing access” in the project to several existing AI systems inside the Pentagon.

Those include:

• Maven Smart System, an AI-powered targeting system the Pentagon has been building to comb through satellite and drone imagery, and other information like geolocation data, to find targets for artillery and other weapons.

• The Army Enterprise LLM Workspace, which appears to handle routine office tasks “from drafting press releases to reclassifying personnel descriptions, and everything in between,” according to an Army description of the system.
• ADVANA, the Pentagon’s massive computerized data hub, which collects data from logistics agencies, space organizations, special ops, and other areas for analysis.

The near-billion-dollar announcement is just the latest of Silicon Valley’s successful AI-powered inroads at the Pentagon. Last month, the Army direct-commissioned four senior Silicon Valley business leaders into the Reserve as lieutenant colonels. At least two of those new officers hold, or recently held, full-time, highly lucrative positions at OpenAI.

xAI belongs to Elon Musk, who famously spent the spring shutting down government computer systems across many agencies via the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and now, by coincidence, is selling an AI that just so happens to specialize in government agencies that for some reason no longer have working computers. He literally calls it “Grok for Government.”

The Pentagon is throwing $1 billion at ‘Grok for Government’ and other AI companies

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Matt White is a senior editor at Task & Purpose. He was a pararescueman in the Air Force and the Alaska Air National Guard for eight years and has more than a decade of experience in daily and magazine journalism. He also teaches news writing at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Journalism and Media where he is frequently referred to as a “very tough grader” on Rate My Professor. You can reach Matt at matthew.white@taskandpurpo

VA Needs To Overcome ‘History Of Failed IT Modernization,’ Federal Watchdog Says

 

VA Health Records System Yet To Deliver Quality Care for Veterans After Continuing Long Term Development Spanning Years And Over $16 Billion

"STARS AND STRIPES" By Linda F. Hersey

 The GAO in March issued a report that examined VA’s “three unsuccessful attempts” to modernize its online health records system, which it uses to manage the medical needs of 9 million veterans. The agency is now on its fourth attempt.

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"Technology officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs plan to tighten its budget and reduce its workforce, as it tackles modernization efforts to improve online operations for employees and veterans. VA leaders delivered that message Monday at an oversight hearing of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee’s subpanel on modernization. The purpose of the hearing was to examine priorities in fiscal 2026 for updating the agency’s IT systems.

But Carol Harris, director of information technology and cybersecurity at the Government Accountability Office, warned the agency has a “long history of failed IT modernization efforts.”

The VA has experienced problems acquiring major IT systems, tracking its software licenses, managing cybersecurity practices and standardizing cloud computing procurement, according to the federal watchdog.

Lawmakers said the challenges affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the VA in delivering services to veterans.

“I’ve heard the [VA] secretary speak about how when he walked in the door on his first day, he couldn’t even know how many people were in the department and where they were all assigned because you had different payroll systems and different human resources management systems,” said Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Mich., the subcommittee chairman.

Jack Galvin, acting principal deputy assistant secretary and deputy chief information officer at the VA Office of Information and Technology, said a major focus is on standardization and ending duplication.

Eddie Pool is acting assistant secretary for information technology and chief information officer at the VA Office of Information and Technology. Pool told lawmakers that his office is taking a “bold and forward-thinking approach” to modernizing IT infrastructure and operations.

Pool said the VA’s “digital experience” is moving onto a single modern platform. The platform supports more than 16 million unique users monthly. More than 3 million veterans have downloaded the VA mobile app, he said.

The VA’s 2026 budget for IT operations is $7.3 billion, a 4% decrease from its fiscal 2025 budget, Harris said. The agency also plans to decrease its workforce by 11.7% from 2025 levels to approximately 7,000 full-time employees, she said.

The VA’s Office of Information and Technology employs 8,205, but 1,172 workers have accepted deferred resignations and early retirements, according to the VA. The reduction aligns with a shift toward automation in which fewer staff is needed as technology matures, according to VA leaders.

“I think since the dawn of technology, we’ve used it to do things that alleviate the necessitation of manual processes and labor along the way,” Barrett said. “However, we can’t talk about smarter IT strategy without talking about the money that VA has spent on IT projects that have not delivered as were expected.”

In 2026, VA also plans to invest $3.5 billion to accelerate modernization efforts for its electronic health records system. It also plans to retire outdated legacy systems for a savings of $500 million.

The GAO in March issued a report that examined VA’s “three unsuccessful attempts” to modernize its online health records system, which it uses to manage the medical needs of 9 million veterans. The agency is now on its fourth attempt.

The GAO did not address direct costs from the first three failed attempts. But NextGov/FCW, a news website that covers technology in the federal government, reported in 2018 that the VA spent almost $2 billion in its first three tries to modernize the electronic health records system. [A far higher estimate of these costs associated with earlier unsuccessful efforts are detailed in the link beneath the lead photo to this article above]

“We have previously designated VA health care as a high-risk area for the federal government, in part due to its IT challenges and implementation” of an electronic health records management system, according to the GAO findings.

“VA needs reliable, modern technology in order to provide the high-quality benefits and services that our veterans deserve,” Barrett said.

The GAO is recommending the VA tap a “dedicated team of high-performing leaders within the agency” to oversee major IT changes.

Harris also emphasized the importance of having a well-functioning IT system that is protected and supported by a skilled cybersecurity workforce.

Pool said the IT office has adopted a “zero-trust approach” to managing online interactions.Zero trust is a security protocol that requires every access request be authenticated, authorized and validated whether the user is inside or outside the organization, he said.

Harris said it is critical for VA to get feedback from system users. “Incorporating insights from a frontline perspective facilitates buy-in — or success — and increases customer acceptance of any changes,” she said."

VA needs to overcome ‘history of failed IT modernization,’ federal watchdog says

Linda F. Hersey is a veterans reporter based in Washington, D.C. She previously covered the Navy and Marine Corps at Inside Washington Publishers. She also was a government reporter at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska, where she reported on the military, economy and congressional delegatio

Numbers Tell The Story – Is Our Government Looking In The Right Places For Cost Cutting?

 

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The above stupefying statistics are contained in a July 8 report Report (PDF) from Brown University’s Costs of War project and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

“FROM ‘THE BUNKER’ AT THE PROJECT FOR GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT” By Mark Thompson

“Can the U.S. have a reasoned national debate on a new defense strategy that is not distorted by the influence of the wealthy weapons sector?

The question answers itself: So long as the U.S. promotes Pentagon policies that aim to do everything everywhere, it will continue to be a self-licking ice cream cone that can’t be sated.“

_________________________________________________________________

“The Bunker was never much for math as a student. But once he started covering the Pentagon during the Stone Age (technically, 1979), he figured out he’d better lube up his slide rule if he were to have any chance of keeping track of bangs for bucks. Armed next with calculators, and then with computers, charting U.S. military spending alongside long-ago defense-budget pros like Bill Kaufmann was always fascinating, and sometimes frustrating: How could this nation be spending so much on its military and getting so little in return?

Some things never change:

From 2020 to 2024, private corporations pocketed $2.4 trillion of the U.S. military’s $4.4 trillion discretionary budget — about 54%. That’s up from their 41% share during the 1990s. That represents a 32% hike.

Over that same time span, the Pentagon’s Top 5 contractors got twice as much money as the entire U.S. government spent on diplomacy and international assistance.

National-security spending — not including inflation — has nearly doubled since 2000, rising from $531 billion to just over $1 trillion.

The number of defense-industry lobbyists pleading for bigger Pentagon budgets grew from 730 in 2020 to 950 in 2024, an increase of 30% (the nation’s population rose by 3% over that same period).

These stupefying statistics are contained in a July 8 report (PDF) from Brown University’s Costs of War project and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “The current [U.S.] cover-the-globe strategy, which stresses a quest for military dominance and the ability to intervene anywhere on the globe in short order — has not served the U.S. well in this century,” authors William D. Hartung and Stephen N. Semler write (PDF). “The question is whether the U.S. can have a reasoned national debate on a new defense strategy that is not distorted by the influence of the wealthy weapons sector.”

The question answers itself: So long as the U.S. promotes Potemkin Pentagon policies that aim to do everything everywhere, it will continue to be a self-licking ice cream cone that can’t be sated.”

BUT IT’S STILL NOT ENOUGH

The Pentagon rolls out its annual wish lists

No matter how much money the U.S. spends on national security — it’s slated to clear that once-impossible-but-now-inevitable trillion-dollar hurdle in 2026 — it’s never enough. That’s why the Pentagon’s latest flock of what it calls “unfunded priorities lists” landed as predictably as the swallows of Capistrano on Capitol Hill last week.

Widely-known as “wish lists” everywhere except inside the Pentagon and congressional offices — where the good-grift charade continues — the rosters have something for everyone. Except taxpayers. Originally voluntary, and rarely used, they became just another legally-required line item in the Pentagon budget after then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates tried to kill them.

The Pentagon’s wish lists for 2026 include nearly $50 billion in requests from the services and military commands responsible for various slices of the globe. According to Breaking Defense, the not-public-but-always-leaked lists include:

— $16 billion for the Air Force and its subordinate Space Force, including $4 billion for more missiles.

—$7.4 billionfor the Navy, including $2.2 billion for more munitions and the factories needed to produce them, as well as $1.4 billion for a next-generation fighter even as uncertainty grows about its future.

— $4.3 billion for the Army, largely for more bullets of all kinds.

— $2.4 billion for the National Guard, much of it dedicated to more F-35 and F-15 fighters.

Nearly $12 billion more for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, including $4.4 billion for drones.

Lawmakers, seeing themselves as the true civilian stewards of the U.S. military — except when it comes to declaring war, of course — have simply mandated that the services produce such lists. They represent an end-run around the Defense Department’s civilian leadership, and bollix up whatever Pentagon efforts there are to build a balanced force. It’s a crude way to demonstrate their porcine-overlord status, and their fealty to home-state defense contractors.

The Bunker - The Numbers Tell The Story

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mark Thompson has been covering U.S. national security for four decades, including from 1994 to 2016 as senior correspondent and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME Magazine.Mark worked at TIME from 1994 to 2016. Before that, he covered military affairs for the late Knight-Ridder Newspapers (including the Detroit Free Press, the Miami Herald, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the San Jose Mercury-News) for eight years.Prior to Knight-Ridder, Mark reported from Washington for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for seven years. During that time, he and his paper were awarded the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a series of articles on an uncorrected design flaw aboard Fort Worth-built Bell helicopters that had killed nearly 250 U.S. servicemen.

Releasing Countries From The Humanitarian And Economic Prisons Of Warfare

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The same, multi-national collaborative negotiation used to free 24 prisoners in Russia can be utilized to prevent and resolve wars.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I have learned a great deal in two military combat tours, 36 years in the weapons systems business and 17 years as a national and international volunteer counselor to small business.

The most important lesson has been that someone different than I may not have the same value system I possess, but by learning about them I will be able to make distinctions between my values and theirs. 

That learning process permits me to consider accepting the differences between us, communicate with them and move forward on constructive objectives.

When governments and weapons makers treasure the economic windfalls in collective military industrial technology while refusing to negotiate, then political and military values on both sides of a world conflict collide.

Soldiers and civilians then die and economies endure massive debt or risk collapse while other world powers are forced to take sides.

All wars eventually result in negotiated settlements. Avoiding them by learning and negotiation in the first place is the most effective war weapon and by far the least costly in materials, debt and lives. 

A look over our shoulders at our recent warfare is useful when viewing our future while making prudent decisions regarding financial and defense security. Every citizen from the individual voter to the politician must consider the risks and the opportunities to avoid the risks of war.  

Effective negotiation must involve learning the other party’s values, not simply the perceived threat they represent to us because we do not know them.

From the neighborhood to the boardroom, from the Statehouse to the Congress and the White House, we would do well to learn more about those different from us before we fight.

The way forward lies in developing a mutual understanding of our respective values and cultures in lieu of fighting wars by using diplomacy and negotiation to save lives and economies.

Nations are evolving technological tools for communication at a startling pace. Our diplomacy, and negotiation must keep pace by using those tools with communicative, knowledgeable leadership to keep the peace.

What Can We Learn From People Who Are Different From Us?

Please Don’t Thank Me for My Service

 

                                                                           Image: LA Times

THE NEW YORK TIMES"

"The thanks comes across as shallow, disconnected, a reflexive offering from people who, while meaning well, have no clue what soldiers did over there or what motivated them to go, and who would never have gone themselves nor sent their own sons and daughters.

Something in the stomach tumbles from expressions of appreciation that are so disconnected from the “evil, nasty stuff you do in war; when your war turns out to have feet of clay — whether fighting peasants in Vietnam or in the name of eradicating weapons of mass destruction that never materialized."

---

"So what to say to a vet? Maybe promise to vote next time, Mr. Freedman said, or offer a scholarship or job (as, he said, some places have stepped up and done). Stand up for what’s right, suggested Mr. O’Brien.

The thanks Mr. Garth gets today remind him of both the bad times and the good, all of which carry more meaning than he has now in civilian life. Hardest is the gratitude from parents of fallen comrades. “That’s the most painful thank you,” he said. “It’s not for me, and I’m not your son.” He struggled to explain his irritation. “It’s not your fault,” he said of those thanking him. “But it’s not my fault either.”

Mr. Freedman, 33, feels like the thanks “alleviates some of the civilian guilt,” adding: “They have no skin in the game with these wars. There’s no draft.” No real opinions either, he said. “At least with Vietnam, people spit on you and you knew they had an opinion.”  Thank you for your service,” he said, is almost the equivalent of “I haven’t thought about any of this.”

Tim O’Brien, a Vietnam vet and the author of the acclaimed book “The Things They Carried,” told me that his war’s vets who believed in the mission like to be thanked. Others, himself included, find that “something in the stomach tumbles” from expressions of appreciation that are so disconnected from the “evil, nasty stuff you do in war.”

The more so, he said, “when your war turns out to have feet of clay” — whether fighting peasants in Vietnam or in the name of eradicating weapons of mass destruction that never materialized.

Mr. Garth appreciates thanks from someone who makes an effort to invest in the relationship and experience."

Please Don't Thank Me For My Service

Decades-Old Congressional Authorizations To Presidents For Carte Blanche War-Making Are Ticking Time Bombs

 

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"THE HILL" By Jim Jones - Vietnam Combat Veteran, Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 Year Justice On The Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017)

"Both the 2001 and 2002 congressional authorizations should be repealed because they are no longer needed and are ticking time bombs of potential abuse should future military action be necessitated,

The public should demand action, rather than once again handing a president carte blanche authority to conduct a limitless war."

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"The nation recently observed the anniversary of the horrendous 9/11 attacks by Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. Bin Laden died 12 years ago and, while there are still elements of his network in various locales around the world, al Qaeda no longer poses a direct threat to the American homeland.

After the 9/11 attacks, it made sense for Congress to authorize the president to respond — to seek out and neutralize the terrorists and their enablers. Congress has historically granted the executive branch the ability to conduct war through what is called authorization for use of military force (AUMF) in specified circumstances. They should obviously be narrowly targeted at the culprits and those in league with them, rather than granting virtually unlimited power to conduct warfare.

Unfortunately, the 2001 AUMF approved by Congress on Sept. 18, 2001, which initiated the country’s global war on terrorism, was not limited in time, geographic scope or circumstances. It is still very much alive today, even though the threat it was intended to address has largely dissipated.

There is good reason to believe that the carte blanche war-making power granted in the 2001 authorization was designed to include military action against Saddam Hussein and his regime in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were both part of an organization advocating the removal of Hussein well before George W. Bush was elected president.

Congress approved a 2002 authorization specifically directed against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, but there is strong evidence to suggest that the Bush administration had already decided in the fall of 2001 to invade Iraq. The 2002 war authorization was just handy window dressing. That no evidence turned up to justify the Iraq War was not the result of an intelligence failure. Rather, it likely resulted from a fabrication of intelligence.

Many American and Iraqi lives were lost because of the overly broad 2001 authorization and the totally unwarranted 2002 authorization. Nearly 4,600 U.S. service personnel and 3,650 American contractors died in the Iraq War and its aftermath. There have been between 280,771 and 315,190 Iraqi civilians killed by direct violence since the U.S. invasion. All of those deaths can be laid at the feet of Vice President Dick Cheney, Sec. of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the other opportunists who took advantage of the 9/11 tragedy, twisting the nation’s grief and anger to further their personal political agenda of conquering Iraq.

In addition to the cost in human lives, the AUMFs imposed crushing economic burdens on American taxpayers. The cost for just the Iraq War was about $2 trillion. The total cost, past and future, for the global war on terror, has been estimated at $8 trillion, including almost $6 trillion for war and war-related outlays through fiscal year 2022.

Added to the cost in blood and treasure is the loss of trust in America’s leaders, both by our own people and by our allies across the world, the extreme wear and tear on our military from having to conduct two bruising wars simultaneously and the fact that we handed a great victory to Iran by disposing of Saddam Hussein, its arch enemy. It is unfortunate that Rumsfeld, Cheney and their enablers were not called to account in the criminal justice system for their misuse of the congressional war authorizations.

There is no reason for the 2002 authorization to remain on the books. It should be outright repealed. The Senate voted overwhelmingly for repeal in March and the issue is supposed to come before the House of Representatives soon. Americans should weigh in to see that it gets done.

The 2001 AUMF may have provided some initial benefits to the United States in Afghanistan but, overall, it has done more harm than good to the country. Because of its virtually limitless wording, it poses a much greater threat of potential misuse in the future. Legislation is pending in the House that would repeal the 2001 AUMF and replace it with a measure narrowly targeting existing terrorist threats. House Joint Resolution 2 also contains a sunset clause, so it would not be on the books forever. The public should demand quick and favorable action on this legislation.

Both congressional authorizations should be repealed because they are no longer needed and are ticking time bombs of potential abuse. Should future military action be necessitated, Congress must do its job — demand adequate justification for an AUMF, tailor it to the exact needs and limit its duration — rather than once again handing a president carte blanche authority to conduct a limitless war.

AUMF Ticking Time Bomb

‘Connecting The Dots’ In the Military And Veterans Health Care Records Systems Maze

By Ken Larson

I am a Vietnam Veteran and former federal contracts manager, who has been in the VA Health Care System for 19 years. History and experience must be connected to yield some tough solutions to a project that has spanned decades without yielding results

The expense and poor performance in the VA Healthcare records system upgrade, recently highlighted in the Congress and the Press, reveal a dire necessity for simplification, communication and efficiency in processes and systems.

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However, the real root causes lie in the massive volume of war veterans returning from our wars in the Middle East over the last two decades, coupled with the historically poor process and systems work conducted between the Department of Defense and the VA utilizing poorly managed contractors taking home millions on systems specifications that change like the wind blows.

The news media, the auditors and the average American are pointing the finger at the President and the Head of the VA.  One cannot ignore the accountability aspects of these individuals.  

 HISTORY: After returning from two combat tours in Vietnam, I worked in the government contracting environment for 36 years then went through the VA system as a Veteran getting treatment at retirement in 2006. I am in the system today.

In 2006 I found the VA had a magnificent system capable of handling medical records and treatment anywhere in the world once a veteran was in the system; a key point.  Why have we had such deterioration?

ANSWER:   We have not experienced deterioration in services within the VA itself, except  from pressures due to millions returning from war coupled with COVID factors and human beings who look for excuses when systems fail.

We have had 2 decades of Middle East incursions, a sudden discharge of veterans and poor management from the DOD to the VA, from the systems contractors to the state veterans homes.  Veterans fall through the cracks as a result. We have a cost plus contracting scenario in the form of veterans care systems mismanagement and it will cost billions to fix. 

THAT IS THE COST OF WAR. We must have effective and timely veterans health care or our volunteer army will disappear. Low recruiting numbers in the present day are demonstrating that fact.

THE TOTAL SPECTRUM MUST BE VIEWED TO MANAGE THE ISSUES. 

BACKGROUND

A 3 part special in Time Magazine in 2013 addressed the serious gaps developing between treatment,  benefits and services processes and systems between the military  services and the Veterans Administration:

https://nation.time.com/2013/04/22/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-va/#ixzz2RnspoSM4

“While awaiting  processing, “the veteran’s claim sits stagnant for up to 175 days as VA  awaits transfer of complete (service treatment records) from DoD,”:

After years of work to move toward integrated electronic records that would eliminate this sort of delay, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel conceded in that the Defense Department was not holding up its end of the bargain to improve the disability process.

“I didn’t think, we knew what the hell we were doing.”:

DoD chooses interoperability over integration for new e-health record system

HISTORICAL SIMILARITIES

The above scenario is not unlike the Walter Reed Army Hospital care fiasco a few years ago, before the facility was shut down and consolidated with the Bethesda Naval facility.

https://www.wbur.org/npr/139641856/in-2007-walter-reed-was-the-armys-wakeup-call

OTHER SYMPTOMS

The VA decided to have those who would  actually use the system (claims processors) work with software  developers. This process would take longer, they estimated, but would create a system more  likely to meet the needs of those who actually use it. VA also worked closely with major Congressional-chartered veterans’ service  organizations.

2013 was the year in which regional offices were to be transitioned to the resulting electronic system.  It obviously did not occur as planned.

In recent years a switch to the commercial software approach through a single company contract award without competition by the VA has been a $16 Billion debacle. The non-compete contract was justified because the awarded contractor already had the in-process contract for DOD records system modernization.

https://rosecoveredglasses.wordpress.com/2022/07/29/veterans-administration-16-billion-medical-records-overhaul-could-triple-in-cost/

ROOT CAUSE

Both DOD and the Veterans  Administration use service contractors to perform this type of systems development.  Government Computer News (GCN)  carried a story on the  difficulties experienced with, “Performance-Based Contracting”, which  has been made part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in an  attempt to pre-establish at contract award those discrete outcomes that determine if and when a contractor will be paid.

https://www.route-fifty.com/digital-government/2006/12/performance-based-contracting-still-baffles-agencies/301132/

Interestingly enough, the article splits the blame for the difficulties right down the middle, stating the government typically has problems  defining what it wants as an end product or outcome and looks to  contractors to define it for them. More than willing to do so, the contractors detail specific end products or outcomes, set schedule  milestones and submit competitive proposals.

The winner is selected based on what the government thinks it needs at  the time to fulfill its requirement and a contract is negotiated. Once underway, the government decides it wants something else (usually a  management-by-government committee phenomena with a contractor growing  his product or service by offering lots of options).

The resulting  change of contract scope invalidates the original price and schedule, so  a whole new round of proposals and negotiations must occur with the  winner while the losers watch something totally different evolve than  that for which they competed. The clock keeps ticking and the winner  keeps getting his monthly bill paid based on incurred cost or progress  payments.

CONCLUSION

The present state of the economy and the needs of our servicemen will not allow the aforementioned to  continue. Government agencies are now hard pressed to insure the most  “Bang for the Buck”. It is in the long term interests of the politician, the DOD, the VA and astute contractors to assist in that endeavor. 

(1)The only way to achieve such an objective is through sound technical, cost and schedule contract definition via an iterative process of baseline management and control.

https://www.smalltofeds.com/2009/08/contract-baseline-management-in-small.html

(2)  Government civil servants must be trained to report systemic poor service up the line in lieu of hiding bad news from superiors or developing workarounds.  This must be an expectation built into their job description and they must be rewarded and promoted for meeting that requirement just as they are for the other requirements of their jobs. 

The first whistle to be blown must be to the boss when the service issue occurs, not to the press a year from the occurrence. 

Government service contracting improvement in DOD and the Veterans Administration as well as better management of federal government contractors are mandatory. There are solutions, but they involve accountability, discipline and change.

Our returning soldiers and those who have served before deserve better.

Costs Of US Wars Linger For More Than 100 Years

     Benefits To Veterans And Their Families Continue 

Long After Conflicts Are Over.

AP News:

"If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century as service members and their families grapple with the sacrifices of combat.

An Associated Press analysis of federal payment records found that the government is still making monthly payments to relatives of Civil War veterans — 148 years after the conflict ended.

At the 10-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, more than $40 billion a year is going to compensate veterans and survivors from the Spanish-American War from 1898, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the two Iraq campaigns and the Afghanistan conflict. And those costs are rising rapidly.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said such expenses should remind the nation about war's long-lasting financial toll.

"When we decide to go to war, we have to consciously be also thinking about the cost," said Murray, D-Wash., adding that her WWII veteran father's disability benefits helped feed their family.

Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator and veteran who co-chaired President Barack Obama's deficit committee in 2010, said government leaders working to limit the national debt should make sure that survivors of veterans need the money they are receiving.

"Without question, I would affluence-test all of those people," Simpson said.

With greater numbers of troops surviving combat injuries because of improvements in battlefield medicine and technology, the costs of disability payments are set to rise much higher.

The AP identified the disability and survivor benefits during an analysis of millions of federal payment records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

To gauge the postwar costs of each conflict, the AP looked at four compensation programs that identify recipients by war: disabled veterans; survivors of those who died on active duty or from a service-related disability; low-income wartime vets over age 65 or disabled; and low-income survivors of wartime veterans or their disabled children.

THE IRAQ WARS AND AFGHANISTAN

So far, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the first Persian Gulf conflict in the early 1990s are costing about $12 billion a year to compensate those who have left military service or family members of those who have died.

Those post-service compensation costs have totaled more than $50 billion since 2003, not including expenses of medical care and other benefits provided to veterans, and are poised to grow for many years to come.

The new veterans are filing for disabilities at historic rates, with about 45 percent of those from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking compensation for injuries. Many are seeking compensation for a variety of ailments at once.

Experts see a variety of factors driving that surge, including a bad economy that's led more jobless veterans to seek the financial benefits they've earned, troops who survive wounds of war, and more awareness about head trauma and mental health.

VIETNAM WAR

It's been 40 years since the U.S. ended its involvement in the Vietnam War, and yet payments for the conflict are still rising.

Now above $22 billion annually, Vietnam compensation costs are roughly twice the size of the FBI's annual budget. And while many disabled Vietnam vets have been compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss or general wounds, other ailments are positioning the war to have large costs even after veterans die.

Based on an uncertain link to the defoliant Agent Orange that was used in Vietnam, federal officials approved diabetes a decade ago as an ailment that qualifies for cash compensation — and it is now the most compensated ailment for Vietnam vets.

The VA also recently included heart disease among the Vietnam medical problems that qualify, and the agency is seeing thousands of new claims for that condition. Simpson said he has a lot of concerns about the government agreeing to automatically compensate for those diseases."

A Solid Example Of A Bridge To The Future For The Common Good

On August 1^st, 2007, I was having dinner in a restaurant next to the Highway 61 Bridge in Hastings, Minnesota with a retired businessman, his girlfriend, and a local lawyer and his wife.  Glancing up at the TV over the bar, we were witnesses to the news of the 35W Bridge collapse into the Mississippi River.  

As we left the restaurant we looked up at the underside of the Highway 61 Bridge since we had parked on the land side parking lot beneath it.  We noted the general condition of the structure and wondered if it too was a risky passage, 26 miles further downstream over the same body of water on which the 35W tragedy had occurred.

Within months the Minnesota DOT had come to the conclusion that the bridge was indeed  risky.  They began making immediate temporary repairs while planning for a new span.  The existing Hastings Bridge had been erected in 1951. Its planned replacement, scheduled for 2019, was accelerated to commence in 2010, based on the condition of the structure and the fact it is one of the busiest bridges in the state, handling enormous traffic as a major north/ south artery from the Twin Cities. 

BRIDGE AT HASTINGS IN 2007

“BRIDGING” FEDERAL, STATE, LOCAL AND CONTRACTING INTERESTS  

Planners at the Minnesota DOT are to be applauded for the manner in which this project has proceeded and the people of the community, as well as their civic, government and industry leaders should be congratulated for the businesslike, cooperative and efficient manner in which this project has been conducted. 

Local community meetings solicited input from the citizens on the design. The options were carefully weighed in terms of environmental and aesthetic impact.  Hastings, Minnesota is an old river town with a preservationist ethic that spans generations. That fact was not ignored.  The Highway 61 corridor has remained open, eliminating a major detour for commuters.

The state ran a competitive bidding process.  The winning contractor joint venture was a team of reputable companies who planned to use state of the art pre-stressed concrete as a design to construct the longest such span on the North American Continent, costing millions below the state estimate for the job.

Heavy girders have been manufactured locally in Minnesota and transported from north of Minneapolis to the Hastings site with computer steered special transports involving minimal disruption.  The large, arch frame for the bridge was recently floated downstream from a staging area near Lock and Dam 2 on the Mississippi after having been assembled by skilled union iron workers. 

It was lifted in place on 24 September by the largest heavy lifting equipment company in the world, who traveled from Europe to support the project. 

The Coast Guard, Corps of Engineers, State DOT, Hastings Community and all related support organizations have worked in a cooperative manner to achieve a demanding schedule.  

OUR NEW HORIZON

 POLITICIANS

I have yet to hear a politician or agency official attempt to take credit for this project or pursue some form of attention-seeking advantage as a result of it.  In an election year, considering the nature of politics these days, that is a highly unusual occurrence. 

I am sure there will be events commemorating the project success, as there should be; but it is my hope those events will celebrate the true nature of the achievement. 

SUMMARY

It was a pleasure observing the Highway 61 bridge replacement over the Mississippi at Hastings. Its planning, execution and achievement have been exemplary to an old project manager who has witnessed difficulties with entrenched bureaucracies in industry and government for years.

This has been a shared, community, cooperative venture, worthy of note when considering models for the future of our country and the path it must take to overcome many challenges – political, economic and technological.

Certainly similar projects can be undertaken involving other infrastructure programs such as  education using the same form of cooperative, shared, professional action.

Let’s build bridges like this one in many other fields of endeavor!