> Do you know if they continuously over order or it's rare?
No idea, but such would not matter. So long as their estimate of future demand was much larger than the actual demand, they will build up a backlog of stored tests whether they bought all at once, or contracted for an even delivery over a given fiscal year. And until they 1) down estimate the future demand to order less on future contracts and 2) use up the backlog built up by the over estimate, the end result will be what you saw, a test that has aged in a warehouse somewhere for much of its claimed "lifetime".
> Any links to this type of information would be appreciated.
None likely exist. You might be able to glean some insights if you can determine 1) which sub-component of which agency handles the procurement of the tests and 2) can find the procurement contracts that were the purchase vehicles. Number 2 is, sadly, potentially likely to end up requiring FOIA requests to locate.
pwg|1 year ago
No idea, but such would not matter. So long as their estimate of future demand was much larger than the actual demand, they will build up a backlog of stored tests whether they bought all at once, or contracted for an even delivery over a given fiscal year. And until they 1) down estimate the future demand to order less on future contracts and 2) use up the backlog built up by the over estimate, the end result will be what you saw, a test that has aged in a warehouse somewhere for much of its claimed "lifetime".
> Any links to this type of information would be appreciated.
None likely exist. You might be able to glean some insights if you can determine 1) which sub-component of which agency handles the procurement of the tests and 2) can find the procurement contracts that were the purchase vehicles. Number 2 is, sadly, potentially likely to end up requiring FOIA requests to locate.