"It's a very sobering feeling to be up in space and realize that one's safety factor was determined by the lowest bidder on a government contract."  Alan Shepard

I recently attended a presentation from the ATO about the difficulties they were experiencing with the tax portal and how they were trying to remedy them; I couldn't help but apply the same thoughts as Alan Shepard.  

The ATOs presentation led me to think that if they were a commercial organisation they would have gone out of business many years ago as the rhetoric used was the same as has been the same for the past 15 years; "We're fixing this" & "We're working on that".

It led me to consider that one of the ATOs biggest obstacles is the tender process to acquire technology: by the time the tender has been designed, issued to vendors, the selection process completed, awarded and then built, the technology has moved on - significantly.  This is possibly a reason for delaying the rollout of SBR for another year.  

It is an unenviable position to be in, but something has to change as it is affecting productivity.

Ground control to Major Tom....

Alan

For more on Alan Shepard, please visit this page