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Comment Re:Hope It Helps End the Fighting (Score 2, Interesting) 782

It's been a while, but unless things have changed, if you sell any product to the government, according to the law you are required to charge the government no more than what you charged under the best discount to any other party for the same quantity and product.

MIL-SPEC is the key here. Make a version that doesn't meet some sort of specification for the civilian market (cheap) and leave the properly spec'd item jacked up! (just to elaborate on what you said here:)

Sometimes the method is to have two different 'models' or configurations in the price list, that accomplish the purpose.

It gets even hairier when you deal with other suppliers who want to get in on the free-for-all. Oh, and the people who pitch needless services from those suppliers for huge premiums (profits all around!) and then when those services start causing the company more issues than they're worth they have to try and figure out a way to make that magic elixir look like snake oil without seeming crooked. God help me I love it so. I could write a book it gets so absurd.

What do you mean you've never seen a government bulk discount? Happens all the time. For any item where the number needed by the government is in the thousands or more, you can bet they're paying less per unit than you would be if you wanted to purchase just one of the same item from a store. It's no different than when big companies buy in bulk.

Oh yeah, what I said definitely reads wrong. Sorry. I mean not like a special for-gov't-only bulk discount. You are correct and I am uhhh sloppy :/ ...my bad!

Comment Re:Iran's plan (Score 1) 211

santax. Don't bother, it is never a good idea to continue debate once an Israeli-supporter gets started. It's really hard to defend Israel as an active peace-seeking nation with such gems as:

Speaking to his cabinet Sunday, Olmert said: "The government's position was from the outset that if there is shooting at the residents of the south, there will be a harsh Israeli response that will be disproportionate."

Israel is a bit of an enigma, it can't be contained with facts nor will it accept statistics it hasn't created. Once the British gave Jews free reign over the Holy Land they haven't looked back. They decided to have a little holocaust of their own and assume ownership of Palestinian land that has been passed down through generations and did so with no regard for the tensions it may cause in the future. I understand why they did it, and they got away with it so in all honesty they did a bang-up job America could stand to learn a few things from about Thoroughness. It's a volatile region but Israel could do a lot better making peace, just as America could. But they won't, and terrorism shall sadly continue and thrive. And people with views half as "radical" as I will be labelled Anti-Semites and crucified for voicing such opinions.

Comment Re:Hope It Helps End the Fighting (Score 4, Interesting) 782

Basically, I treated it like everything else the government buys for me with my money: I googled it, found the highest price and then added about 100-200% for an estimate. Guess it doesn't transfer well to all military expenditures.

Your methods are quite sound, I work for a major company mostly (almost completely) fueled by the defense industry and I can say that I have no reason to believe our government gets any type of discount whatsoever, foreign governments do, but it's widely known that Uncle Sam doesn't mind paying MSRP.

Basically, look at the lowest price you can find on a reputable AR-15, then take 10-20% off of that to estimate what the government is paying.

Why? I'm not trying to be a smartass but why would the government get 10-20% off? I've never seen an instance where a government organisation got a "bulk discount"

Comment They've missed the Best Choice (Score 1) 161

The Sager NP8660 http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4590 can be configured with a 9800M GT and T9600 for far less than the FLAMING GAY ORANGE Asus G50V. Plus, it is 15.4" (The fastest 15.4" laptop ever made) The Asus G50V is 15.4, sports the far weaker 9700M, and since it has two hard drive bays it's nearly as large as a 17" and did I mention it only comes in FLAMING GAY ORANGE? You can get a 1920x1200 MATTE screen for the Sager, instead of those glossy screens that morons love so much that hardly any other laptop manufacturer still uses them. I had a G1S, it was nice but I think it's the last decent Asus product that will ever be made. Their giant Republic of Gamers emblem, and blue blinken light bonanza plastered over a giant candy tangerine shell, it's just too tacky. Asus is so dead to me.

And if you have been given a liquidity injection recently, you can even get the x9100 and have all the fun that the Alienware kids are having. If not, as your attorney, I advise you to just buy it anyway and file for bankruptcy when the time comes.

Microsoft COO Warns Google Away From Corp Search 315

Forbes is reporting on comments made by Microsoft COO Kevin Turner, concerning the corporate search business. At a company conference in Boston, Turner referred to the enterprise search business as 'our house', and warned Google to stay out. From the article: "Those people are not going to be allowed to take food off our plate, because that is what they are intending to do ... Enterprise search is our business, it's our house and Google is not going to take that business"

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