BK
join:2001-09-10
Wheaton, IL | hmm
sounds like OnSat has other problems besides their double billing..
anyone have them want to share their story? |
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jc100
join:2002-04-10
| Sounds like we will be seeing OnSat in court. I bet they full well knew what they were doing. Hell, I've read stories where people inflate costs to the government astronomically. For instance, this one company was billing 100,000 dollars for parts like screws and such. It went on for a long time before someone happened to notice it. Basically, our government and its payouts are so inefficiently run, no one noticed fraud. Makes you feel like your tax dollars are well spent, ay? My guess, this company figured they'd tap the cash cow and are upset they got caught. Tough. I say make them give a year free to compensate for the double billing, or send the ceo / owner to jail. |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
 ·Sprint Broadband D..
| I have read articles that stated that the registration for the procurement process, especially with the Pentagon, is so costly that the companies add those costs to the price of whatever they are selling to the government.
The whole process, from registration to bid to R&D to milestones to completion is so complicated it HAS to be beastly expensive. Just reading the specifications on a bid has to require a very specialized ability. Too bad none of it results in savings and cost-overrun oversight, which I think was the initial objective. |
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MasterCuffs
@comcast.net
| Sock it to 'em!
OnSat should use the same tactics the credit card companies use.
When a satellite customer's payment is 1 nanosecond late, tack on huge late fees and some usurious interest charges to the balance owed. If the customer chooses to dispute the bill, make them call an offshore call center where they dump your call after a couple hour wait.
That would teach 'em to pay their bill on time! |
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emptywig
Huh? What?
Premium
join:2002-08-05
Pasadena, TX | RTFA
OnSat is accused of double-billing. Its not about anyone being late on their payment.
wig
--
Please keep your f---ing religion to yourself. |
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r81984
Fair and Balanced
Premium
join:2001-11-14
St John'S, NL | The real question is....
Why are we paying for the Navajo Nation's internet connection???
--
»www.ryanoneill.us |
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Jim_in_VA
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA | maybe its because we ran them off their land in the first place?
--
=== evdotips.blogspot.com === |
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penawab2007
join:2007-03-28
Old Town, ME
| reply to r81984
It's through a program that creates start up infrastructure to remote areas without any access to internet. Once an entity enters in the program, they have to also develop a plan to have access made permenent. This Federal program isn't soley for tribes, and reservations, it's for any area that can show that they are being denied internet access because of ISPs refusing to spend the capital costs to reach them. |
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GamerGeek
join:2003-07-26
Fortuna, CA
| reply to Jim_in_VA
said by Jim_in_VA  :maybe its because we ran them off their land in the first place? Who's "WE", paleface? |
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jc100
join:2002-04-10
| reply to TScheisskopf
Re: hmm
A family friend worked for the Pentagon for many years. Now he has retired and does subcontracting. His current project (last I spoke to him), was to find ways to save the government money. It's odd how that works. The government is SO INEFFICIENT it has to literally hire people to find ways to cut cost. Instead of making smart choices beforehand, we're left with hiring people to clean up the mess. It's good for him. They pay well to their subcontractors. Still, our government's waste and irresponsible spending is ridiculous. They spend like money grows on trees. No wonder our dollar is so devalued. I said it before, and I'll say it again. The only difference between Democrats and Republicans are Democrats tax, and Republicans print more money and borrow to pay the debts. IE devalue our dollar. Right now, this country has added 5 trillion to it's deficit. I wonder how much of that was legit spending and how much of that were billion dollar contracts (Haliburton) that went unmet. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
 ·Comcast
| reply to Jim_in_VA
Re: The real question is....
said by Jim_in_VA :maybe its because we ran them off their land in the first place? BS It is liberal guilt syndrome. |
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Cracker01
@tn.us
| reply to GamerGeek
Paleface? Do we have a racist amongst us? Are we stuck on something thats happened in the past? Everyone has been slaves in the past at one time or another, DarkFace people appear to be unable to realise and get over this simple fact.. I suppose the rebel flag is a sign of the KKK to you as well?  |
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antwanp
Beyond FM, Beyond AM, XM Satellite Radio
Premium
join:2002-05-14
Cedar Hill, TX
clubs: 
·T-Mobile US
·RoadRunner Cable
| It's not my fault that jackasses decided to use the Confederate battle flag as they're symbol of hatred. I'm more likely to assume you are klan if you "proudly display" it. Just like the Swastika used to be a symbol of peace. Well, Hitler ruined that one too (and the Charlie Chaplin mustache)
-Antwan L. |
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birdfeedr
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-11
Warwick, RI
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to BK
Re: hmm
said by BK :sounds like OnSat has other problems besides their double billing.. From the article:
"because of the possible overbilling and because the tribe didn't comply with federal rules that require it to select the most cost-effective service or equipment through a fair, open and competitive bidding process."
Possible overbilling, and documented compliance with federal rules. Hmmm. Both parties have some explaining to do. You know, everything the feds do require paperwork.
It's a case of the government giving out the money and then asking for verification of compliance with the process. "Hey, you know that money we gave you last year? Were we supposed to do that?" 
The money that's being withheld is for services in 2006-2007. So yeah, I'd be shutting them off for non-payment too. |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO
| reply to TScheisskopf
The reasons for the ridiculous specs are the companies who weasel their ways around vague specs.
Unlike a private company, government has to award to the lowest qualified bidder even if they know that bidder will cut corners and deliver an inferior product. So, the only way to avoid the inferior product is to tighten the specs.
As an example, I was recently involved in a RFP writeup for county government. I wrote the spec pretty tightly including a requirement for the proposal to include measurements of accuracy for the product being delivered. One of the major bidders, Company A, then contacted us and said "Our product description states it fits inside these tolerances, our production methods should fit these tolerances, and our customers state from their experience that it fits these tolerances. Actually measuring the tolerances will create unnecessary extra expense that will greatly increase the price of the contract so you should remove the measurement requirements." Without going into what this product is... if it does not meet specs than a series of analysis based on the product will come out wrong (and unless you know the product is not in spec, you do not know the analysis are wrong) and the product must be created at a specific time frame. If you get an inferior product, you have no chance to go back and get a better one since the time frame is gone.
So, I contacted a company that I know does those measurements but was not competing on the bid to find out just how much it costs to make those measurements. Turns out that it is pretty cheap, they even just did it for Company A, but Company A was not happy about it and did not pay them. The answer was pretty obvious... turns out that Company A's product comes nowhere close to the required specs and they count on customers who do not have the expertise to realize the product is off spec or who simply will take an inferior product over no product at all (remember the time frame problem). To top it all off, Company A throws in a licensing clause that makes it a violation of the product license to hire a 3rd party to measure the accuracy of the product!!
And that was the real reason they wanted the supposedly unnecessary expense of accuracy measurements taken out of the RFP.
--
ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher |
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Noah Vail
Premium
join:2004-12-10
Lorton, VA
·RoadRunner Cable
1 edit | reply to TKJunkMail
Re: The real question is....
said by TKJunkMail :BS It is liberal guilt syndrome. So, when I look up LGS in the dictionary, what will I find?
Inventing a diagnosis to custom fit the result you desire may not be the most credible assessment of a problem.
But undoing your knee-jerk, and returning to the point, are you content with ALL of the transactions between the government and the American Indians?
I can live with expansion through conquest. But once the conquest was over, it should have ended then. The US Government (which is still in existence) made and then broke more treaties, contracts and promises than we can count.
We should have left them in Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, etc as we promised; not brutally relocate them each time we found a crappier piece of land than the one they already occupied.
The collective American Indian tribes are the only US minority group, with which we have an outstanding debt. I'm OK with paying for their internet.
NV
Edited for nOmission |
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marigolds
Gainfully employed, finally
Premium,MVM
join:2002-05-13
Saint Louis, MO | reply to r81984
Because the federal government holds a huge chunk of tribal money in trust. Since the tribes are not part of any state, federal money goes directly to the tribe instead of through state government. |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ | reply to marigolds
Re: hmm
Don't doubt you in the least. Seems sociopathic behavior is at epidemic levels these days. |
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TScheisskopf
World News Trust
join:2005-02-13
Belvidere, NJ
·Sprint Broadband D..
| reply to marigolds
Re: The real question is....
Actually, that money, held in "trust" by the BIA is the source of great controversy and litigation. Seems the BIA has not been an honest trustee in that relationship. Lots of them there Billions of Dollars seem to have gone irretrievably missing. The BIA and Department of Interior have been doing some world-class stonewalling on this, to the point of the judge in the case having to find some very important folks in Interior in contempt. |
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GamerGeek
join:2003-07-26
Fortuna, CA
| reply to Cracker01
said by Cracker01 :Paleface? Do we have a racist amongst us? Are we stuck on something thats happened in the past? Everyone has been slaves in the past at one time or another, DarkFace people appear to be unable to realise and get over this simple fact.. I suppose the rebel flag is a sign of the KKK to you as well? Actually, I'm Irish. My family immigrated here in the late 1700's. But thank you for disseminating your own racist views. |
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