Posted: 1/24/2011 5:22:16 AM EDT
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http://cryptogon.com/?p=20093 Is It Strange That FEMA Wants to Buy 140 Million Packaged Meals with a Shelf Life Only 36 Months for a Specific Disaster Scenario? January 23rd, 2011 I’m sure that there are plenty of reasons why this isn’t weird, but I’ll just make a note of it in case Coincidence strikes. Via: Federal Business Opportunities: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) procures and stores pre-packaged commercial meals to support readiness capability for immediate distribution to disaster survivors routinely. The purpose of this Request for Information is to identify sources of supply for meals in support of disaster relief efforts based on a catastrophic disaster event within the New Madrid Fault System for a survivor population of 7M to be utilized for the sustainment of life during a 10-day period of operations. FEMA is considering the following specifications (14M meals per day): - Serving Size – 12 ounce (entree not to exceed 480 calorie count); - Maximum calories – 1200 and/or 1165 per meal; - Protein parameters – 29g-37g kit; - Trans Fat – 0; - Saturated Fat – 13 grams (9 calories per gram); - Total Fat – 47 grams (less than 10% calories); - Maximum sodium – 800-930 mg; Requested Menus to include snacks (i.e. fruit mix, candy, chocolate/peanut butter squeezers, drink mix, condiments, and utensils). All meals/kits must have 36 months of remaining shelf life upon delivery. Packaging should be environmentally friendly. |
| I'd be interested in hearing if they have a history of making such purchases. No offense to the OP, but a conspiracy site may just be posting this as further "evidence" of something else they are trying to prove. If FEMA has no history of making like expenditures, I'd be more interested in their motivation... |
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Quoted:
I'd be interested in hearing if they have a history of making such purchases. No offense to the OP, but a conspiracy site may just be posting this as further "evidence" of something else they are trying to prove. If FEMA has no history of making like expenditures, I'd be more interested in their motivation... how about from the actual bid offering? this is a bit informative if not troubling. |
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I chalk this one up to FEMA actually doing their job. Nothing more, nothing less.
If anything the question you should be asking is "why the hell did it take this long?" And 36 months is exactly how long MRE's are good for when kept at 80 degrees.... No refrigeration required. Much cooler than having to build wharehouses that are kept at 32* or paying the electric bill for them. |
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Quoted:
I chalk this one up to FEMA actually doing their job. Nothing more, nothing less. If anything the question you should be asking is "why the hell did it take this long?" And 36 months is exactly how long MRE's are good for when kept at 80 degrees.... No refrigeration required. Much cooler than having to build wharehouses that are kept at 32* or paying the electric bill for them. I'm with you on this one... |
| i'm not sure where, or when, they got them,, but,, after katrina military MREs were handed ot locally. they would set up in grocery store parking lots, and give you 2 bags of ice and 2 cases of MREs, everytime you came through. truckload after truckload, for a couple of weeks in my area, 100 north of the gulf. of course we were hit by 100+ MPH winds, and destruction all over. i still have 4 cases left, after giving 10-12 away in the years since '05. according to the red dot on the side of the case, they are still good. we opened a case in november that i gave to a friend to take to deer camp, the tobasco sauce had kinda dried up in one MRE, but everything else was still good. |
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Gee, sounds like a version of the Mainstay 1200 calorie bars or a version of the new First Strike Rations.
Yeah, the interweb is going nuts about linking that story to a crap-ton of up coming events - everything from New Madrid Fault opening up due to HARP tests, to a Corona ejection produced EMP.... I'm just so sick of all the crackpot predictions - I just want the damn weatherman to say ... "YES it will rain today at 3pm..." Not... "Chance of rain today... almost certain it may be dark overnight..." |
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Yes, FEMA has a huge stock of MREs at at least thomasville, GA, and at one time, multiple trailers full at Maxwell AFB. With a 36 mo shelf life, there's a pretty good chance they can get use out of them in at least one hurricane. Otherwise, they can be donated to charity. I have a 2 pallet MRE stockpile here for work, and we follow the Natik labs Shelf life with a record of the temeratures stored and plan to release them 3 months prior to expiration to charity.
We had to throw 20+pallets away one time, based on the risk of getting sued. Lawyers now say if we can get a letter from the Mfg say the contents are MILSPEC packaging, from DOD that they service life can be extended under certain conditions, retain hard copy temperature records (or electronicly signed logs), and have the recipent sign they are aware of the conditions, we can donate them, or feed our own employees. Downside is once it leaves my storage building it can't come back. We keep talking about getting a walk in cooler and storing these things for a decade. No money right now. BTW, the Maxwell cashe (as does ours) date to Katrina, the Thomasville cashe predates katrina by a decade or more. Just from things I have heard, I think DOD called a stop to being everyone's emergency food supplier in the event of a disaster. Prior to Katrina, my employer could obtain MREs post event from DOD. I think that opportunity is now gone. I believe that to be the reasoning we started stocking MRE, combined with Kartina being the first disaster we worked where airlift capacity was limited. |
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Quoted:
I chalk this one up to FEMA actually doing their job. Nothing more, nothing less. If anything the question you should be asking is "why the hell did it take this long?" And 36 months is exactly how long MRE's are good for when kept at 80 degrees.... No refrigeration required. Much cooler than having to build wharehouses that are kept at 32* or paying the electric bill for them. I doubt like hell FEMA is concerned about spending our money.... |
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I'll chalk this up to the "use it or lose it" attitude of government spending.
As the US nears its debt cap, all bets are off on what gets budget cuts. Katrina was a long time ago now, and FEMA hasn't had to do anything too major since then... people will start to scale back the things that aren't used often. So, the worst thing for the agency to have right now is a budget surplus. People would take a positive account balance and say, "look, they don't need all that funding. they didn't even use all of what they got last year, ect". Use your entire budget or face budget cut next year. All levels of government do this because there is no reward for cost savings in the public sector. The money is just given to someone else next time. |
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Keep in mind this is a request for information, not a bid request. It looks to me like they are "fishing" for suppliers. Look at the request doc. How many companies do you know with the logistics in place to drop ship on demand to a disaster site for 10 days AND effectively finance the government with terms until they pay up? They probably no longer have anyone willing to play on those terms in this economy and now they have to dig another one up. I wonder if we could win a FEMA bid by saying our disaster rations comply with the first lady's "better foods for fatties" program. Hey it worked for Wal-Mart.  |
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I'll chalk this up to the "use it or lose it" attitude of government spending. As the US nears its debt cap, all bets are off on what gets budget cuts. Katrina was a long time ago now, and FEMA hasn't had to do anything too major since then... people will start to scale back the things that aren't used often. So, the worst thing for the agency to have right now is a budget surplus. People would take a positive account balance and say, "look, they don't need all that funding. they didn't even use all of what they got last year, ect". Use your entire budget or face budget cut next year. All levels of government do this because there is no reward for cost savings in the public sector. The money is just given to someone else next time. This sounds likely. I know for certain that municipal government has this mindset. In my area, after Ike, the disaster meals were a joke. A Chef Boyardee ravioli in the little microwave bowl and some crappy vending machine cookies in a cardboard box were all I saw. |
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Follow the money. Who's getting the profit? I was thinking this as well. (Putting on my tin foil hat) Could it be that the reason the Meals are 36 month only is because someone involved in FEMA has their hands in the MRE conpany''s cookie jar? Buy something that expires in 36 months so you will have to buy again in another 36 months, creating a cycle of spending & profit. (removing tin foil hat now) |
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Quoted:
<snip> The purpose of this Request for Information is to identify sources of supply for meals in support of disaster relief efforts based on a catastrophic disaster event within the New Madrid Fault System for a survivor population of 7M to be utilized for the sustainment of life during a 10-day period of operations. <snip> Not actually a purchase order or even a request for bids. They are looking to identify potential suppliers. It is a Request For Information. |