From: cshotton@oac.hsc.uth.tmc.edu (Chuck Shotton)
Subject: Re: Interesting DC-X cost anecdote
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In article <1993May14.200217.3044@iti.org>, aws@iti.org (Allen W. Sherzer)
wrote:
> 
> A staffer just told me an interesting story about DC-X. An Air Force
> costing team just looked at the DC-X (now called the DC-X1 BTW) and
> gave an estimate on how much it would cost the Air Force to build it.
> It cost SDIO $70M to build and it would cost the USAF:
> 
> 
> 
>         $320 million or four and a half times as much.

I'd be willing to bet that a majority of the cost difference could be
accounted for by the AF's requirement for superfluous 2167 documentation, 5
or 6 huge requirements and design reviews, travel expenses flying personnel
around to meetings, and over specifying the hardware. I doubt that the
actual fabrication cost in materials and labor would be very different from
SDIO's costs.

Of course, this is my cynical opinion based on years of watching the
government procurement process try to cover up a lack of creativity and
innovation with reams of documentation. ;)
