The point seems to be that the State (in the shape of FEMA) will provide disaster relief processes, and the relief itself, or whatever is required in such circumstances.
-IainB
That's not the point I get at all living here and seeing FEMA in action.
In the case of NY/NJ I think this particular RFQ was very specifically tailored to make it
impossible for anybody
other than a previously selected vendor to be able to qualify for the contract. This is how our government sometimes gets around those pesky "open for competitive bid' rules.
MREs are not usually consumed by the American public. And you won't find them except in specialty stores that cater to the survivalist and wilderness expedition trade. So there are relatively few companies that make them. And fewer still that could provide them quickly in multi-million unit quantities.
Maybe this is to help clear out inventory for whoever was providing meals for the US military now that the Iraq/Afghanistan fiasco is winding down. (Wouldn't want them to get stuck with "dead inventory" would we?)
That said, it's encouraging that somebody has at least
thought about feeding very large numbers of US citizens on short notice following a disaster. Because our track record has been pretty spotty on that score. Imperfect as this current action by FEMA may be, it's still a small step in the right direction.
It is not a part of the process and will only confuse the heck out of an otherwise orderly management of things in the midst of chaos.
-IainB
FWIW, FEMA has seldom been very effective during the most critical early stages of disaster relief. They're much more effective in arranging loans for rebuilding after the body bags and portatoilets have been removed and electricity has been restored.
Maybe it's different in other parts of the world, but based on the natural disasters I've lived through, there is little "orderly management" in evidence during most US relief efforts. And most of the truly effective relief actions always seem to come more from private and small local government efforts than they do from behemoths like FEMA.
If the disaster relief - e.g., food - arrived too late such that some people starve to death or become ill before it arrives, then that would be unfortunate.
-IainB
Um...it would be
quite a bit more than "unfortunate." Something like that would be utterly unacceptable to the American public. To say nothing of it being political suicide for whoever was in charge were something like that to happen.
It's often been said the George Bush Sr. lost any hope for reelection due the
tardy and disorganized mobilization of relief efforts following Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
I tend to agree.
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