Dept of Homeland Security .40S&W Contract?

[hals1]

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2012/03/13/ATK-producing-ammo-for-Homeland-Security/UPI-91311331656764/
What could DHS possibly need 450 million rounds of pistol ammo for? Police state preparation?

[Sensei]

This does not seem that excessive. The agency has over 200,000 employees. Granted, a small fraction are armed with that particular caliber which happens to be their most frequently issued (only USSS uses 357 Sig). Still, I have about 1-2K rounds per caliber of various pistol ammo stored for emergencies.

[Heavy Metal]

You are not going to opress the United States with pistol caliber ammo, I don't care how many rounds.

They are likely fronting a buy for all the Feds. This is likely a contracting thing to get the best possible price.

[Heavy Metal]

.....and how long does the contract run? 5, mabey 10 years?

[Abraxas]

Yawn. We have people on this board who have OVER 10k rounds of ammo for just themselves, who get offended when someone suggests they want to take over the government. Does anyone have any clue just how much ammo the government buys between Federal law enforcement and military? This is nothing.

[kmrtnsn]

OP, Think about it for a minute. Quarterly qualification for,

Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (those blue uniform guys at the international airport and land border crossings, nationwide)

CBP, Border Patrol, (all those green uniformed guys between the ports of entry)

CBP, Air and Marine Operations, (all of those guys in tan flight suits over the border)

ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, (all of those plain clothes investigators, nationwide)

ICE, Detention and Removal Operations, (more blue uniformed guys, storing and deporting people)

Federal Protective Service, (more blue uniformed guys and their contractors, guarding federal buildings nationwide)

The Coast Guard, (they have blue uniforms too, they're everywhere)

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) at Glynco, GA and Artesia, NM

Maybe a few more, I've been up for the past 22 hours so I'm a little foggy

All of these people shoot .40S&W. ICE NFTTU buys the ammo for all of them. Figure 1,000rds of ammo for training and qualification per shooter, per year once they are in the field, 5,000 per shooter per academy slot while in training. You don't think all of the people and places that I described above don't add up to 450 million rounds in five years?

[John Hearne]

Posted elsewhere:

That is standard government contracting talk. They aren't buying that many rounds, they have the option to buy that many rounds at that given price up to the specified number. The maximum number is going to be way higher than they every think they'll need to make sure they don't lose the price.

Government contracting rules make it very difficult to do much of anything. If you're going to get ammo approved, you don't want to have to do it multiple times. If you want to start an interesting rumor, tell 'em that the NPS ordered 15,000 rounds of .22 ammo for just one park, which I just did. We must be bent on mass political assassinations with silenced 22's because how could we possibly need that much ammo - right? I don't need that many for this year's training block but I don't want to fight the bureaucratic crap every year to buy the particular load I want. When I order ammo, I try to order into the future with the additional consideration that the funding may not be there next year.

It is also common practice to allow other Federal agencies to buy off of your contract. For instance, I can buy Federal Bonded Tactical ammo off of the FBI contract even though I'm not an FBI agent. Once the price is secured, it's good for everyone. Also, consider that DHS runs FLETC. FLETC fires something like 20 million rounds a year as part of its training programs. That isn't for the agencies, that's just for training at FLETC. The various agencies included in DHS aren't included in those numbers. When you have hundreds of LEO's qualifying on a quartely basis, the numbers can add up.

Sorry, I've worked for the Feds for too long to believe that anybody can orchestrate anything behind anybody's back. They can't even orchestrate anything in the open....

[Iraqgunz]

The USCG is part of DHS. The standard duty pistol is a .40S&W Sig. Considering that the Coast Guard purchases their ammo 5 years in advance and it's easy to see where the numbers are coming from.

[hals1]

Point made. I guess it's not so much after all.

[CarlosDJackal]

Man, I'd like to get in on that deal. I'm down to less than 1k of .40 S&W. :D