Cost Determination, Section 5.3.4.4

[KenWittlief]

Originally Posted by Cory

...You definitively say that you are right, and you must be so, because Dean Kamen couldn't possibly be against teams taking advantage of all their resources. In reality, you have no idea what Dean thinks on the subject matter. Nor does it matter, because the rules are quite clear, regardless of what Dean does or does not think.

Passing your opinion off as fact is incredibly misleading to the average onlooker. None of us here are FIRST. ...

I dont agree. We are FIRST collectively, all of us, the students, the teachers and the mentors.

The purpose and the goals of this program have not changed. FIRST is not going to swing to extremes from one year to the next, to boost TV ratings, or to make more money, or to up the prizes, or for any other reason that is detrimental to getting HS students to pursue a career path in science and eningeering.

99% of the benefit that comes from FIRST comes from inside the teams themselves, not from FIRST officials. Teams dont get full scholarhips by winning the regional or the championship. Individual students are inspired to attend colleges and universitys based on what they experience with their mentors and team-mates, and those on other teams.

FIRST has been consistant in its purpose and goals since 1992. They are not going to pull the rug out from under us this year, or next year, and make rules that will prevent teams from using the technology they have at their disposal.

I feel highly confident in this. Someone show me indications from FIRST headquarters that lead you to feel otherwise.

I said we need to clear this up because it is important. Only a handfull of people have expressed their opinions in this thread, and Im interested in hearing how the other 990 teams did their BOM accounting for materials,

and whether any other teams let $1M machines/tools sit idle, because they though this rule implied they must not be used?

Its no big deal if a team put $1.00 on their BOM for a square foot of plywood, when they could have charged only 92¢

but if teams are not using their sponsors equipment, because of the wording of a rule about measuring plywood and sheetmetal, then its to their advantage if we straighten this out.

PS: over the past 9 years I heard DK speak about FIRST often enough to have some idea of what will make his head go Linda-Blair :^)