Steven Brill Quotes
In theory, the rules are strict enough to preclude all discretion that might corrupt the process. In practice they enable misguided, unsure, stubborn, or biased procurement officials to justify any decision.
There are 207,000 procurement personnel in the government who are required to follow the 1,600 page FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulations) guidelines and, in the case of the DoD, the 1,600+ page D-FARS overlay to the FAR covering military contracting.
Steven Brill (journalist), “Donald Trump, Palantir, and the crazy battle to clean up a multibillion-dollar Military procurement swamp,” Fortune, April 1, 2017
This quotation illustrates a political phenomenon that used to be common in American politics—the spoils system where government activities, positions, contracts and grants were awarded to the supporters of the winning party and not to the opponents. In modern times government contracts were supposed to have been awarded on the basis of qualifications and price and not conditioned on political support. In this rare quotation, the secretary admitted to violating his own Department’s regulations and using politics as a criteria where existing laws prohibited that.
the prophet was hostile to all forms of monopoly which in his time for almost always granted through political corruption and favoritism. Before Christians even considered the issue, Islam considered monopolies anti-consumer and contrary to the interests of the Muslim society.
Typically then and now, members of Congress would have their staffs call Federal officials implying endorsement for constituent companies, and if a contract ensued would imply to the constituent that the member had something to do with it. In some cases, they would pressure the agency to award contracts to their constituents. Douglas had the highest ethical standards and was unique in that he made the calls himself so that he should personally tell the official that there should be no special treatment for his constituent and would personally tell the constituent that other than helping them find Federal business opportunities, he would not be of additional assistance.
See {158152} for his view on secrecy in government.
Regulation had been adopted to make sure that certain products were made to standards and appropriate quality. A small fee was taken by the regulator to attest to the quality and place a seal on it. However, the system degenerated into a system where one had to pay the fee and everything passed inspection without regard for quality. Child was one of the first observers of the criticality of implementation of regulatory schemes and the danger that a regulatory system was vulnerable to corruption.
_0_thumbnail_400x500.webp "Steven Brill (born August 22, 1950) is an American lawyer and journalist-entrepreneur. Brill's most recent reporting and book is concerned with healthcare costs.")
Steven Brill, born in Queens, New York, is an American lawyer and journalist-entrepreneur. He is a graduate of Deerfield Academy, Yale College (B.A., 1972), and Yale Law School (J.D., 1975). In October 1978, Brill published his first book The Teamsters. In 1979, Brill launched The American Lawyer, a monthly magazine covering the business of law firms and lawyers across the U.S. and around the world. Among its early contributors were Jill Abramson and Jim Cramer. The magazine is well known for its surveys including the Am Law 100, a ranking of the top 100 law firms. The magazine covered the rise and subsequent precipitous collapse of the law firm of Finley, Kumble, Wagner, Underberg, Manley, Myerson & Casey in 1987.
