Why is DHS loading up on 450 million rounds of hollowpoints?

[Baptist Believer]

Apparently Homeland Security has adopted the police saying that "dead people don't tell lies about you in court." They don't plan to take prisoners.

If a law enforcement office in the United States (not on a battlefield) is going to have to use firepower to neutralize a threat to the safety of the public, it will likely occur in the proximity of innocent bystanders.

Hollow points tend to NOT over-penetrate walls or barriers, nor ricochet or pass through the target and hit others.

In my opinion, it is irresponsible to use anything but hollow points in that situation.

I don't know why they are purchasing so many (if the report is even accurate), but remember that ammunition does not easily "go bad". Ammo can last for decades if it is stored properly. A good friend of mine regularly shoots World War II-era ammo in his World War II-era firearms. He even uses it occasionally in a couple of his modern guns.

 

[Baptist Believer]

Yes, and so why does Homeland Security need 450 million of them...

I actually just read the article carefully instead of just glancing at it.

Business Insider apparently doesn't understand government procurement or is trying to generate "clicks" by creating a provocative headline.

They reference an "indefinite delivery" and "indefinite quantity" contract. The way they reference it, it seems clear they don't understand it.

In my job, I develop proposals to compete for IDIQ (Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity) contracts all the time.

Here's how they work:

The government puts out a request for proposals for an item or service that they will need, although they don't necessarily know when they will need it (indefinite delivery) or how many they will need (indefinite quantity). However, they want to negotiate a vendor for the service so they can get the item quickly when they need it, and they want to have a guaranteed price for the item so they don't get price-gouged if the cost of the item begins to rise.

Typically, the IDIQ contracts are designed for anywhere up to five years and are a hallmark of responsible government procurement. They conserve tax dollars and bring stability and efficiency to the procurement process.

That being said, this contract was apparently written for up to 450 million rounds of ammunition. That is probably the theoretical limit for all of the ammunition needs for the DHS for the next five years, including training rounds, etc. (Yes, I know that you normally don't use hollow points for training, but this contract would allow the DHS to use hollow points for training depending upon what costs they were able to negotiate for standard rounds).

So, in truth, the DHS could buy up to 450 million rounds of ammo at the contracted price, or could buy absolutely no ammo during the five years. My firm has pursued and been awarded IDIQ contracts and, in some cases, received absolutely no work during the span of the contract. Other times, we have maxed out the upper limits of the contract (fairly rare, even for the lower limit contracts).

Essentially, the DHS has a contract to buy all the hollow point ammo it needs at a contracted price.

That's all there is to it.

 

[InTheLight]

That's all there is to it.

C'mon Baptist Believer! You're ruining the conspiracy nuts with your common sense educational explanation about IDIQ contracts. Don't you realize that right now black helicopters are transporting these millions of rounds of bullets to the hidden concentration camps in anticipation of rounding up all the Tea Party members that will riot in the streets after Obama suspends the Presidential election? I mean it's as plain as day, man! :laugh:

 

[NiteShift]

Agh. I missed the part about it being an IDIQ contract. I'm sick of contracts at this point in my career. Our directorate "contracts expert" has made me re-write a contract three times now...before she finally admitted that she's applying O&M rules to an R&D contract....

Glad that somebody is attending to that stuff. Glad it's not me :laugh: