How can we fix the contracting mess that leads to mistakes and wasteful spending across the government?  By training more people to work in government as contracting specialists.   In the category of obvious and urgent reforms, this one's at the front of the file, and the U.S. Army seems ready to act.

Another episode of just what we don’t want to see -- more bad news about our collective inability to manage government contract work effectively.

This time our Coast Guard, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General, apparently has contracted for billions of dollars of cutters that ...

From a piece I wrote in 1980: In my first annual report on the Lewes-Cape May ferry that crosses the mouth of the Delaware Bay, I complained that the sign reading "Life Boats This Way" pointed the 700 passengers to two boats with a capacity of 25 each.  In my next report, ...

Re: How Did The Coast Guard Get It So Right in New Orleans and So Wrong on Lake George? by Anonymous on 2005.10.07 12:53PM EDT  |  It is funny. The ship owners such as Shoreline Tours say they rely on the coast gaurd to tell them how many passengers are appropriate on ...

Read the story.  While not blaming the CG, it does implicate their authority to regulate maximum load -- and it specifically says the CG is doing the tests on the sister vessel.  Is the story wrong?  If so, let me know and I'll contact the Detroit News. 

Re: How did the Coast Guard get it so right in New Orleans and So Wrong on Lake George? by Anonymous on 2005.10.06 05:07PM EDT   While it is true the Coast Guard does some regulation of boats, in this case the boat was on inland waters- not in "navatable" ...

From Charlie Peters   Twenty people died Sunday when a tourist boat on Lake George sank.  Preliminary findings indicate that one possible contributing factor may have been the fact that the Coast Guard standard for passenger limits uses 140 pounds as the average weight for each person.  The NTSB has recommended using 174 pounds.  Tests done ...

See Stephen Barr's Federal column in the Washington Post from Sept. 26. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/25/AR2005092501661.html