Are they a little dim at the MOD?

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/6xtpaxe

Spending £22 for light-bulbs that only cost 65p , and if that isn't enough it has also emerged that taxpayers face a £150,000 bill for buying thousands of copies of a new book after it was deemed a threat to national security.

If the new book "Dead Men Risen: The Welsh Guards And The Real Story of Britain's War in Afghanistan" contained information that was thought to be a potential threat to national security, then surely all the copies could have been lawfully confiscated without the need to spend £150.000 of taxpayer's money?

[mollykins]

Sounds silly and suspicious . . . but that's britain for you . . .

[Zeuhl]

I thought i read somewhere this was a special bulb for radar installations and the media were pulling their usual trick of not letting the facts spoil a good story.

However, the answer to your question is yes.

I have an old friend who spent years in a senior MOD position wasting billions of quids on Eurofighter . apart from the argument we could have bought something better and much cheaper from the yanks the inefficiency of the process was mind boggling.

The only branch of the British armed forces who can 'shop outside' do so for virtually all their weapons and equipment.

Our procurement depts employ over 10,000 people. By comparison, the Israelis with similar scale of output employ about 400.

[scotman]

I don't think it is only the MOD that suffer from this. It is just that their numbers(£) are much bigger.

[Old_Geezer]

Maybe they'd then need to have to prove it in court ?
Might be cheaper to just buy it all up.

(Anyway, I thought the government's plan was we all end up paying £22 for each light bulb, and another £22 to cart the dangerous material away the following month, when it stops working ?)

[rov1100]

If the purchaser had to pay that amount out of his own pocket he may have thought twice. This small example typifies the spending habits of the last government.

[scotman]

There as a short report on radio this morning which suggested that these were very special bulbs as Zeuhl has indicated. I did not listen closely but it seems that there may be some exaggeration in the article.

[Zeuhl]

<<typifies the spending habits of the last government.>>

No it doesn't. I'm sorry but that is party point-scoring nonsense.

The waste of money in the MOD and most public departments goes back years . It was certainly the same during the Thatcher government's tenure. The Civil Service have never needed the assistance of politicians to squander our cash.
.

[Tuddypat]

Anyone who sells anything to the MOD knows that it's a licence to charge silly prices. To be fair though the amount of nonsensical forms they make you fill out before they'll buy a lightbulb from you probably means you end up doing about £22 worth of work for each one, so it's probably a fair price at the end of the day.

[modeller]

When I as working I as told I was not allowed to change a bulb because the union insisted it was done by an electrician, who had to be called by filling in various forms and the bulbs had to to be obtained from a certified supplier . Also being as a step ladder might be involved that meant the electrician had to have an assistant as health and safety was involved . When the job was done the bulb had to be safely disposed of in a suitable safe container. You can imagine the cost of that farce.

[stoofur]

The company I work for used to do lots of MOD work (Repairs and New Units). We used to deal direct with the MOD and we would give them very good lower MOD rates. The MOD then decided that they would get a commercial company to act as a middle man. Therefore we would charge the commercial company more expensive commercial rates. What I can't understand is where the savings are for the MOD. We charge the commercial company more. The commercial company then puts it's mark up on and then invoices the MOD. If they are doing this for all OEM companies then the costs must have risen loads. IMO

[rojash]

redhelen, at whatever age you are, meaningless, patronising remarks like yours are not impressive.

[anotheoldgit]

agree wholeheartedly, it is totally unnecessary.

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/5tqhmgy

/// The MoD at first insisted the bulbs were highly specialised parts for a radar system, but later said the thrust of the Sun's story was correct.///

/// It said it was "not denying" the claims after more information came to light.///

It would;d appear that the MOD have made a 'U-Turn' on their special light bulbs excuse.