[Milsurplus] Goverment Liquidators

[Peter Gottlieb]

Let me tell you what I know.  Govliquidation has the exclusive contract to 
sell DRMO equipment to the public, although there are still sales which 
happen outside of this channel.  Obviously there are dealers who get stuff 
from these other channels.  They could never sell at the prices they do if 
they went through govliquidation!

DRMO has a process called "screening."  What happens is that when surplus 
equipment is turned into them, eligible agencies send "screeners" to take a 
look and tag/reserve items they want.  If multiple agencies want the same 
item there is a priority scheme.  Once screening is completed (date 
deadline) all equipment is then made available or sent to the agencies who 
tagged it.  After all this is done, the remaining equipment is compared 
against a list and any sensitive items (eg, the stuff we want) is ground up 
and destroyed.  Everything that remains is given to govliquidation for 
public sale.  But this process is very error prone.

Now, let's say someone at an agency sees a piece of equipment they want on 
govliquidation.  They make a call, file a form, and that item is pulled from 
the sale.  This is what happened to some Harris Falcon sets that were on 
recently.

The Rolm computers (ruggedized PDP-11's) do pop up here and there.  I had a 
few, actually sold them to the company that supports them for the military 
for about what I paid for them.  Mine had the radiation proof memory and the 
firmware to control some current missle system and should never have been 
released, but at least they ended up back where they should be.  One was 
brand new!

As for locations, they do that to save money by reducing the number of 
locations.  For the government, travel is free (YOU pay for it), so what do 
they care?  Be really really careful with them as recently I heard a horror 
story of someone who paid thousands for some radio equipment in boxes and 
when it arrived the boxes were empty.  There was no recourse, and to add 
insult to injury, the buyer was told that he was responsible if those radios 
ever ended up somewhere they shouldn't be.  And I'm not even telling you 
about the outright criminal behavior that happens.

Peter




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Fantini" <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 9:30 AM
Subject: [Milsurplus] Goverment Liquidators


> It's interesting to see others have had issues with Government
> Liquidators too, although I have not had the issue where they have sold
> an item and wanted it back, or not released it, but have had several
> sales mysteriously disappear. One lot did include a nice Harris sincgars
> radio; a couple others involved old Rolm computers. Have been trying to
> put together a Rolm system for a while now and have had bids in on lots
> and then they just disappear, like they were never their. Anyone know
> what the relationship between Government Liquidators and the DRMO is? Do
> any local DRMO local spot sales still exist? Would have thought that the
> lots Government Liquidators offers are screened before release for
> online sale? And do not remember if when you fax back the end use stuff
> if it goes to them or some other agency?, and last but not least why is
> all the good stuff always beyond driving distance?, theirs always great
> deals in Hawaii and Alaska. Maybe these are all questions with no
> answer, kind of like why the Navy has a huge supply depot in the middle
> of Mechanicsburg Pa, don't look like theirs any deep water around
> their to me.
> Ray Fantini KA3EKH
>
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