From the WashingtonTimes.com:

Golden Hammer: Federal spending that stinks: The Interior Department’s $98,000 outhouse

by Phillip Swarts

The latest example of misguided government spending smells a little funny — and it might not be just because of the cost to taxpayers.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management is taking heat for spending $98,670 to install a single outhouse at a trailhead in Alaska, the most recent example of federal agencies making questionable purchases in September.

Stop right there.  I’ll bet this will be a tale of grief, woe, incompetency, unions, an inability to think freely, and the grip of inflexible bureaucratic gefuckishness.  It will be a tale of ignorance, miscommunication, no communication, sexism, racism, and no regard for time or cost or agony.

The prefabricated Aspen Single, produced by outhouse manufacturer Romtec Inc., has a single toilet, operates without water and can hold 750 to 1,000 gallons of waste. But the company website puts the estimated starting price of the unit at $10,000, a little more than one-tenth of what the government paid.

Really?  In the best of times, ONE outhouse costs TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS — ?

You think there wasn’t ONE local carpenter or construction company that couldn’t produce a frakking outhouse for less cash?  An OUThouse?  Even I could produce an outhouse with $2,500 worth of plucked Home Depot select wood and a few questionable hours of nail banging.  And I’m damned near incompetent in terms of building.  I bet I could find a few competent friends who would help me for free, however.

But here’s the deal:

After five companies competed for the contract, BLM hired Alaska-based Big Street Construction, a small company run by a married couple that is listed in federal databases as both owned by a woman and minority-owned.

“Owned by a woman and minority owned.”  Clue.

So what do you think they did?  Right.  They sub-contracted to another company.

The actual manufacturer, Romtec, is based in Oregon, and government paperwork lists it as the manufacturing location. That suggests that the unit itself is being transported to Alaska all the way from Oregon. The trip from Romtec’s headquarters to the trailhead is almost 2,500 miles.

Another clue:

Representatives for Romtec and Big Street Construction did not return calls seeking comment.

The obvious:

The unit doesn’t have internal plumbing but operates similar to commercial portable toilets: All waste goes into an “underground vault.” Interior Department personnel then either have to let a separate contract for someone to empty the outhouse when it gets too full or face the unenviable task of doing it themselves.

Another contract, let with strict and onerously-ridiculous regulations, whilst spending cash that no one must account for in any way.  Meaning: your cash.  As an American Taxpayer.

Literally: $98K for a shitter.

This is simply insane.

BZ