re: #164 The Pulchritudinous Patriot

And they cost $50,000 a piece.

Now, now. I have some knowledge of the government contract process. If the pens are $50,000 it’s probably because some gov. Engineer was told to spec. them for use upside down, in a vacuum and on the surface of Mercury. Plus they had to be bulletproof and have a tracking device and explosive sniffer with an alarm. Oh and the materials used were a mix of obsolete paint and adhesives with “Black Bird” spec titanium as the shell.
Then it was put out for bids with “ready to ship” time of 90 days (when it would take 60 days just to requisition the materials and to machine the shell alone). After they were made then a QAR (Quality Assurance Rep) {we made up other names for them} would be asked to the factory for their inspection asap which would be responded to with a date 15 days from the time of request.
On the day of inspection the 15 pens made, (you usually have to make extra to make up for unforeseen shortfalls/failures at Inspection) were inspected. The QAR would then red flag 4 (on minor technicalities such as incorrect paperwork concerning the purchased materials or a missing inspection report at one of the stages of assembly) and approve 11.
Then you get to wait 60 days for payment (unless of course the paperwork gets mislaid or some part of it is unclear to the clerk checking it over or they just feel like f**ing with you).