[mothballed]

"Unnamed military contractors" should be forced into competitive bids. Ditch the favoritism and let any US corporation bid on it and including bidding on the jobs where you need 3 layers of management to buy a capacitor when done by government employees. You can go out and buy a $500 Ar-15 on the private market that's about as good as an M4/M16 the military is paying thousands for -- that's the result of an actually free market for M-16/Ar-15 and the same thing can be brought to the rest of defense contracting.

[supongo]

Correct. The majority of "DoD waste" goes into expensive, overpriced purchases.

DOGE villainized the average federal employee rather than addressing the true waste - overpaying Defense Contractors.

[pdonis]

Not defending DOGE, but it should be noted that much of what DoD pays for when it buys weapons is not the weapons, but reliable weapons and the logistics of supporting them under combat conditions. The apparently inflated unit costs often are given without looking at what's actually included contractually in those costs. Sure, any citizen can buy an AR-15 for $500, but that citizen isn't paying for a support structure that has to be able to deliver ammo or spare parts or spare units in a combat zone in time of war. Nor is that citizen paying for the guarantee that the contractor will be able to continue to produce all those things in the necessary quantities in time of war. Nor is the citizen paying for reliability guarantees about the weapon working under adverse conditions.

It's unfortunate that the reporting around such things doesn't actually dig into all this, but just gives quick sound bites without any real analysis.

[supongo]

I should have been more specific. I understand the sustainment cost of weapon systems and the like - which, while still too costly, is partially justified.

I was referring to the inflated cost the DoD pays for everyday items. I.E, having to pay double or triple the market rate for things like office chairs, computer headsets, and WIFI dongles. There's no sustainment cost. Just an inflated price.

[pdonis]

Even those items have to meet more stringent requirements for DoD than similar items bought by private companies or individuals.