Aloha everybody -- there's been something bothering me for a long time now, and I just can't stand it anymore. I'm having a problem with the repeatedly reported cost of the U.S. y2k Coordination Whatever Whoozi Thingamagig Info Collecting Center Place. $40 Million ? Yeah, and so what? I mean, the serious preppers (can't bear to use the "D" term) often hold this fact up as proof of how serious the gov is planning; the "others" (also hate the "P" word) seem to ignore it, implying they also find it indicative of gov planning. My point is, $40 mil is nil in terms of gov spending. It is the proverbial drop in the bucket. Does someone out there understand what I'm asking? If so, please help me frame it properly. This is a serious question (perhaps rather lame, but truly serious) Mahalo, grngrl

-- grngrl (jhandt@gte.net), September 10, 1999

Answers

$40 million sounds like a lot of money to me for a possible but unlikely "three day winter storm." Couldn't it be done for, say, just $200,000? Or maybe what they're really concerned about is a three week "hurricane" and its aftermath type of situation...

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 10, 1999.

Aloha Link - yes, I know $40 mil is a lot of money, at least to most of us here. But not in terms of gov spending. You mention that if all they were planning for is the 3day scene, perhaps $200,000 would be enough? What has our govt ever been able to do with that sum? A few new tiolette seats perhaps? They've already stated that they intend to keep the facility open into spring '00. Like I said, with what I know about govt spending, I just can't help wondering about the (relatively) small amount of funds allocated. It just seems to me that it is an incredibly unrealistic sum for the scope of work they state they will be doing. If I were to hear $400 mil, I wouldn't be posting this question. I guess I simply question their ability to do what they say they will be doing. Believe it or not, $40 mil simply doesn't go as far as it used to.

-- grngrl (jhandt@gte.net), September 10, 1999.

40 mill is a huge sum for a couple offices, some rotary phones, maybe a wall board, a pile of pink, green, and yellow stickies, some index cards, a box of bic pens. A low tech, y2k resistant, "command center" that will cover the action for, oh, 2 or 3 weeks.

Remember, it will be staffed by volunteers from other federal agencies. We're not talking salaries.

With 40 mill, I could build out an entire office building, lay in C-5 and have money for a DS3 drop, million dollars of rack mounted servers, and banks and banks of $1,300 (to purchase) workstations. and operate it for years. Oh, and I'd have 20 million or more left over.

Their description, an information center for a few critical days or weeks, is more like my first example. The funding is appropriate for something serious.

I can't figure it out.

-- cory (kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net), September 10, 1999.

"40 mill is a huge sum for a couple offices, some rotary phones, maybe a wall board, a pile of pink, green, and yellow stickies, some index cards, a box of bic pens."

But it is for that long holiday weekend. Gotta have plenty of pringles and pepsi and pizza for those loyal volunteers. Don't forget the party hats and noisemakers.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 10, 1999.

$40 Million estimated. Wait 'til it goes to procurement and goes through the auction grinder! The low ballers will come in around $20 M (gotta show that 50% savings ya know) get the award for the inital pass and then...Oh! you want FURNITURE? That's extra. Expect $400M when all is said and done.

-- br14 (br14@bout.done), September 10, 1999.

That's almost 13 million Big Mac Value Meals (with fries).

Remember when the cost of replacing the official, formal dinnerware at the White House was a hot topic ?

-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), September 10, 1999.

They've already stated that they intend to keep the facility open into spring '00.

grngrl,

Exactly. Now you're starting to catch on. When families make their own contingency plans for next year, they should consider how long this $40 million contingency plan is supposed to last. Three days worth of preparations for a "winter storm" type of situation might not be nearly enough.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), September 10, 1999.

I'm not asking to hear any real secrets, you understand. I just wanna know how many meals they're storing, and what the person count is when fully staffed. Those two numbers would tell us a LOT.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), September 10, 1999.

cory forgot the MRE donuts

-- h (h@h.h), September 10, 1999.

Don't forget, there are alot of distributed costs and paychecks that will be picked up by other agencies and organizations, as well.

Wonder if the ICC funding came from the emergency slush monies (like the Washington DeeCee--the city--remediation round of funding), and by-passed to usual appropriations process. Wouldn't surprise me.

One can search the White House web-site for the leads 'n clues. Also info.gov if so motivated.

Diane

See also...

The Government's Y2K War Room

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001My7

[snip]

The federal government is mobilizing what could be the largest peacetime emergency response effort in U.S. history to deal with the main event - Jan. 1, 2000.

[snip]

...It will be the largest event-monitoring effort in the history of the federal government."

[snip]

Vice President Al Gore has closely followed the efforts to prepare for Y2K, Mr. Koskinen said. "I would not be surprised if he was with us at the center and the White House as this goes on."

[snip--to end]

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), September 10, 1999.