Looks like a Sea around the Mump

And if being flooded out isn't bad enough.....

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/somerset-levels-flooding-crisis-police-3120743

 

Its more.

When I spent nearly 11 years on a government contract working for a private company, it went something like this (and this is just the bits I know about):

* My wage worked out at about £90 per day gross.
* My time was charged back to the government as follows:
- £330 per day retainer, just for me being on the books, PLUS
- £750 per day for any work I did other than basic maintenance. Most of my time went into this category.
* My computer was leased, and the cost to the government was £3000 per year, for a desktop PC that you could buy retail for about £600
* My desk phone was leased, and the cost to the government was some figure I can't remember but over £1000 per year, not including any calls I made or line rental etc, ie just for the physical object on my desk
* My desk and chair was paid for by the government, but I'm not sure how much that cost.
* Even the building we were in was leased, and the government paid the rent, on top of what they were paying the company for the service we were providing
* The contract also featured a fixed monthly cost on top of all the costs mentioned above, which was the company's remuneration for doing the work
* If we met our very, very reasonable targets, the company also got a sizeable monthly bonus
* If we slipped behind, there'd be a financial penalty to the company, but that was charged at a much lower rate than the bonus, and on the very few occassions when we did miss a monthly target, the penalty would not be applied if management could think of a good excuse, for example that we simply didn't have enough people, in which case they'd pay us to find more people, presumably being charged out at a similar rate to me.

One time, we needed 2 new web servers. Retail price would have been about £2000 each, so £4000 total. Our approved supplier, who knew that the government would pay anything, quoted £37,500 + VAT. My boss couldn't be bothered to write the email the minister's office that approves such bespoke costs, so he asked me to do it. I did what was asked but expected no reply, after all, the minister didn't know who I was. He'd surely want to check it with his known contact, my boss. Not so. Less than 30 minutes after I hit send, I got a reply back authorising us to spend the £37,500 without even questioning either what it was for or who I was.

I wasn't even that senior. I was a senior developer, which meant I was close to the bottom of the pecking order, and one of the cheapest people there in the grand scheme of things, so I daren't even think about what the more senior people were costing the taxpayer.

As if that's not enough, throw in an outside auditor's firm who were sent to keep an eye on us. Their lower ranking 'consultants' were, I was told, being charged out to the government at £1000 per day. We had loads of them floating about, and they were there for pretty much the entire time. We even gave one of them a desk.

 

Although I dont agree with total privatization, I think anyone knocking it should cast their minds back to the "good old days ", when the government run most things.
I dont think it worked out any cheaper than it does now.
The unions had total control of most of the Nationalized industries, not the government, and every one working for them took the pee, they were overstaffed, overpaid, and the pension schemes were out of this world.

Plus most of the time they just kept going back to the government for bigger and bigger hand outs, it wasn't all plain sailing back then, either.

 

Got a cunning plan......

 

There's another way that privatisation rips us off. More specifically how self imposed government procurement rules work.

Lets say there are two companies that both have the capability to fulfil a particular requirement. One is a small company. Its only been trading a year, but the people that make it up are all experienced from years of doing the same job in a larger company. They have few overheads, with a team of 10 working out of a small rented office in the local business park. Being small, with limited funds, they have had to really streamline their finances, so they are not wasting a single penny on anything they don't actually need. The other company is a large multinational BPO (Business process outsourcing) firm with a turnover measured in £billions, and a price tag to match. It is staffed mostly by too many chiefs, and the people that actually do the work are so despondent after years of being treat as a staff number and made to listen to management praising themselves.

Government procurement rules automatically rule out the smaller company, even if they can do the job better, faster and cheaper. The rules (unless they've changed in recent years) say that automatically, the government will not award the contract to any company that has existed as a legal entity for less than 2 years or has a turnover below a certain threshold.

Worse, the larger company, which does meet the procurement criteria, is perfectly allowed to outsource to whoever they like, so it is quite ok for them to subcontract the work to the small company, then add a 1000% markup to charge the government.

 

Clueless1 inflated costs, is correct, Desk fan BnQ £16 On hire to Gov at £8 per day
Rightly stated by Clueless many many other costs

Why does the Gov not do anything about it
Well the Gov no matter what flavour does not run the country the Civil Serpents do

A new Gov moves into No 10 and are then sat at the controls of the Same Bus the last lot left parked, they then drive it for five years choosing their route this time Though NOT the bus

It is the same with the 0845 number system to Gov centres, The Gov do NOT make a profit on the extortionate rates, What the Gov do get is a free system, the profit goes to the company providing the system
Back on topic, When you call the flood line, it is the system provider ripping you off

Zigs fuel theft and burglary's During the Somerset Levels disaster
The Gov should bring in a Law as they did for Crimbo, anyone caught is looking at 5 years JAIL

Jack McH

 

Use Mr Pickles as a flood relief barrier?

Mr Pickles:

But isn't it Pickles who's proposing cutting the EA's maintenance budget (that's used for dredging) by 50%?

 

Think it's 14 years for looting @Jack McHammocklashing

Cunning plan is.....

It's recycling day, instead of throwing out all those plastic bottles, fill them with floodwater and post them to California, where they got no water

 

Yup you find out just how sh1ty some humans can be when you are at your lowest. Our house was looted after we flooded and we were living away from it. Nothing for it but to go back and live in it despite the house having NO ground floor. Everything had had to be ripped out including the floorboards and solum so literally down to an earth floor so, no luxuries like a kitchen. Not fun trying to wash up in a bathroom basin! That said on the flip side we had a wonderful band of neighbours who cooked for us and did our washing so not all bad.

 

Aww, that's terrible Silu, thank goodness for kind neighbours

 

I read as far this, then thought the rest of it was going to be "10 Downing Street".

 

Have you seen the price of postage the days?

Anyway, I doubt the post would get through.
There are quite a lots floods around at the moment if you notice.