Sunday Rant

Sunday Morning Rant




Well, I woke up to the lovely sounds of my mouth breathing, white trash neighbors this morning. As usual, they exhibit no knowledge of the existence of anything beyond themselves, and their little self-absorbed redneck universe of four wheelers, beer, and extended unemployment benefits. Having been snapped out of what was to be a much needed, extended period of staring at the inside of my eyelids, I was very nearly consumed with my anger, yet found myself hesitating at the front door. My desire to jump the fence and go all spider monkey on his stupid ass was overwhelmed by a sudden, vivid epiphany. With my hand trembling on the doorknob from the adrenaline rush, I realized that to dip down to their primal level, would be conceding to their way of life and value set. It was truly an awakening for me. I seldom back down from a confrontation when I know in my heart I am right, and rest assured, this boy very sorely needs a proper ass beating, but I suddenly had an overpowering feeling that I just need to suck it up and stay on the high road. As much as I want to burn that house down so these neck tattooed fucktards have to move away, I won’t do it. Not yet anyway. Now fully awake, knowing that sleep would be impossible, I decided to troll the channels on the ‘ol idiot box to see what the MSM had to say.

Needless to say, there was zero mention of the conflagration spreading across the European continent. No mention of the up-coming Greek default, which will most assuredly set off a tidal wave of attempts to redeem credit default swaps, most of which will not be paid. After repeated denials out of France regarding the precarious state of their bank capitalization, I think it’s safe to assume they are at the edge of the precipice, soon to topple in. All they need is a nudge, which I believe we shall see in the upcoming week or so. I was not informed about any of the most pressing and important issues confronting the world today, but the media did treat me to a fifteen minute bit about an A&E show called “Storage Wars”. Without realizing it, they illustrated in full Technicolor, exactly what ails America today. The corporations in our country have colluded together and produced an entire generation of “consumers”. That’s right, we’re no longer Americans; we’ve been reduced to the status of ‘consumer’. There are millions of people out there who have consumed so much useless shit that they actually need to rent permanent space somewhere to store it all. They actually place their “stuff” in boxes, label them then toss them in a storage locker, most likely never to see the light of day again. Exactly when this paradigm shift occurred I cannot be certain, but shift we did. How pathetic is that?

While I’m still in the mood to bitch and complain, what the hell is with the TELEPOTUS? Is this guy for real? How many more set asides can we take? Obama wants to set aside even more of the federal pie for yet another in an alphabet soup of existing set-asides for special interests. How many more slices of pie will be set aside for some favored group or another? These fuckers are going to destroy my business, and there’s nothing I can do about it. As most of you who happen to read this already know, my firm works nearly exclusively for federal government agencies around the country, but our work load is hell and gone from being assured. We have to scrabble and scratch just to peel off enough to survive in the atmosphere of set asides and contract bundling. Unfortunately, My mother made the mistake of giving birth to a white male, which shuts me out of most of the available federal contracting opportunities. In the world of federal contracting, most Americans are blissfully unaware of just how many federal dollars are packaged in to bundles and handed to small groups of large contractors. Here is a partial list:

SATOC, Simplified Acquisition Task Order Contract. This vehicle allows thirty or forty million dollars to be bundled up and bid to a group of four or five contractors under a seed project, simplifying the bidding process and reducing total engineering costs for the FedGov.

MATOC, Multiple Award Task Order Contract, IBID.

MAC, Multiple Award Contract, See above. This vehicle can also come in different forms, such as Minor MAC, Mini MAC and Major MAC. Each designation describes the total pool of money available and maximum size of potential acquisition.

SABER, Simplified Acquisition Base Engineering Requirements, see also above.

8A, This group actually gets to straight up negotiate work with no competition. I have zero respect for this program. This is a set aside program for black owned firms. For eight years, they get to dip the pot with no competition. After 8 years, they can find a new 8A guy and do a mentor – protégé program, essentially becoming 49% of a joint venture [JV] with a guy who gets to negotiate for eight more years. This is a great gig if you can get it. Virtually free money and a guaranteed, bottomless bowl of gravy.

These vehicles are all aimed at large to very large companies, and the requirements set forth in the original Request for Proposal [RFP] nearly always excludes small businesses such as mine because of the technical requirements and NAICS codes [North American Industry Classification System], which usually include the giant environmental firms like LVI, Balfour Beatty and others.

But wait, there’s more! Now that half of the pie has been given away, you would naturally assume that the rest is evenly divided. You would be wrong. After the big boys get theirs, the special interests start forming their line. I have outlined the special interests below who are mandated by Federal Acquisition Regulations [AKA the FAR clauses] to get a predefined percentage of all federal work.

SDVOSB, Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business. Nearly ALL of the work at the VA goes to these firms. I do not begrudge this group one nickel. Go for it guys.

WOSB, Woman owned Small Business, this one explains itself. It was needed at one time, but I think we’re past the point where it is useful or truly needed. I work with myriad woman owned firms that are quite successful, and don’t need a leg-up.

SDB, Small Disadvantaged Business. Again, self-explanatory, but includes, I shit you not, foreigners who start a business in America, namely Indians [from India].

HUB Zone, Historically Underutilized Business Zone. WTF? Really? This one is basically a set up for businesses to front a company in the ghetto, and slide in on a shitload of set-aside work. I have also worked with HUB Zone firms, and every single one of them simply paid a face to sign papers while running the business themselves.

NAOSB, Native American Owned Small Business, No comment needed.



Folks, these lists are only a partial accounting, as there simply isn’t enough room here to post them all. Do you get it now? Do you understand what happens to our country when minority groups and special interests are given first dibs on the pie? That’s right; the 65% of small business that are owned by white males are squeezed out. It is reverse racism at its finest and most subtle, and it is doing so in the name of fairness and diversity. Rather than allow firms to compete on the basis of experience and quality of performance, we are forced to either sub-contract work from these companies or fight for the remaining scraps which have not been set-aside. How fucked up is that? Without regard to race, creed or color……..? Bullshit. Each and every one of these programs reduces competition and either sets up the big guys who cannot be touched by a pipsqueak firm like mine, or they set-aside money for a group specifically because of race, gender or nationality. Sometimes, I want to strangle someone and other times I want to give up and retire early, because the stress this game puts on you is overwhelming at times.



As for Europe, it’s going to get ugly over there, but I’m just going to watch it burn to the ground from my living room, because there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it, and I fear there isn’t anything the Brotherhood of Darkness can do either. They let it get out of hand and can’t regain control so the ship is going to crash and crash big. They fucked it up good this time, and they did so in the name of the almighty dollar. I wonder how that’s working out for them now.



With all we are facing in the world, I suppose I shouldn’t complain, given that I am blessed with a loving family, a great job, nearly zero debt and serious savings backstop, but I do anyway because it is a needed catharsis.



Sorry about the rant.