Doesn't appear to be anything major changed - adds internet reimbursement clarification and some related info
regarding RON and per diem.
http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R173_003_BE7CCE2DDCDBB.pdf (http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R173_003_BE7CCE2DDCDBB.pdf)
I would like to know where NHQ thinks consumables for missions like toner, ink, paper, and batteries (which used to be reimbursed under comm costs)
are supposed to come from. If anything those should absolutely be reimbursed as normally costs of doing business, or perhaps an annual
Liason Region-Level consumables budget fully controlled by CAP-USAF.
Consumables are consumed by members so it comes from their pocket.
..and at work, because I have to print stuff, I'm supposed to buy the toner and paper?
Sorry, but these are things I wouldn't be doing if I were not participating on the mission.
I get that it's difficult to judge, for example, how much toner out of a high capacity cartridge I used during a 2-day mission. I also get that you don't want units waiting until AF-funded missions and then showing up with all their dead batteries, empty toner, empty printer paper, and dry pens so they can use the occasion of the mission to restock their supplies.
But there should be some sort of provision here. For one, batteries can get expensive really fast. It would only seem fair and reasonable to make some sort of provision —perhaps a flat daily consumable rate?— to cover these expenses unless they demonstrably go above and beyond the flat rate (like "Our GT's burned through 150 AA batteries...")
Quote from: a2capt on December 27, 2012, 04:12:37 PM
..and at work, because I have to print stuff, I'm supposed to buy the toner and paper?
Sorry, but these are things I wouldn't be doing if I were not participating on the mission.
Do you bill your clients for consumables individually?
Generally, most professional service firms (like engineers or architects) have an overhead cost rate that's built into their billings, but do not directly bill for consumables. In the CAP context that means that such items come out of the corporate bucket, not the AF bucket of money.
Quote from: JeffDG on December 27, 2012, 04:42:01 PM
Quote from: a2capt on December 27, 2012, 04:12:37 PM
..and at work, because I have to print stuff, I'm supposed to buy the toner and paper?
Sorry, but these are things I wouldn't be doing if I were not participating on the mission.
Do you bill your clients for consumables individually?
Yes. If I use something for a client, they get a pass-through invoice and a copy of the receipt for their own taxes.
CAP doesn't have an overhead rate or a "corporate bucket" for things like this. We have theoretical operating budgets,
but a lot of wings are struggling to just keep the lights on, let alone start burning consumables for missions.
Which also raises the question of where the USAF believes that money is coming from. Do they think adults
should be selling cheesecakes to cover non-reimbursed mission costs?
Quote from: Eclipse on December 27, 2012, 05:21:08 PM
Quote from: JeffDG on December 27, 2012, 04:42:01 PM
Quote from: a2capt on December 27, 2012, 04:12:37 PM
..and at work, because I have to print stuff, I'm supposed to buy the toner and paper?
Sorry, but these are things I wouldn't be doing if I were not participating on the mission.
Do you bill your clients for consumables individually?
Yes. If I use something for a client, they get a pass-through invoice and a copy of the receipt for their own taxes.
CAP doesn't have an overhead rate or a "corporate bucket" for things like this. We have theoretical operating budgets,
but a lot of wings are struggling to just keep the lights on, let alone start burning consumables for missions.
Which also raises the question of where the USAF believes that money is coming from. Do they think adults
should be selling cheesecakes to cover non-reimbursed mission costs?
I believe that many units/wings have trouble raising funds partially because they tend to be horrible at calculating the actual cost of things. When they make budgets I don't think units actually look at how much things cost to operate. They look at how much money they have, and figure out how to maybe dole that little bit out.
When I was a Sq/CC our annual budget was about $5500/year. I counted every single activity (rocket launches, trips, whatever) as expenses. In the 'income' part of a budget I think figured on costs for many of these activities and listed them as 'activity fees' or other purchases (nicely framed certificates for cadets earning their mile stone awards Mitchell and above, things like that) with expected member 'donations.' The point of this was to show exactly how much money it really takes to run very high quality programs and how much of that was coming from members out of pocket.
It's a lot easier to persuade someone to donate money if they can see exactly where the money is going, what it's budgeted for. In my view it is partly the responsibility of units to train and equip their ES personnel. The member-cost for GTMs is far higher than I feel it should be. With the right control and laying out exactly what you need we were able to secure some hefty discounts for consumable mission supplies and the like for our GTs. We were in the process of building 10 GTM3 kits that would be kept at the squadron as a staging area and then signed out as needed, and used as needed. The cost to replace was part of the budget. I think a lot more units need to realistically assess down to the bic pens and pencils how much it costs to keep a unit truly functioning at a high level.
I think if wings and units took this upon themselves they would have a much better time at raising money, and recognizing where they could cut costs or get the most bang for their buck.
^ I have to agree, although the current "budget" process that Regions and CAP-USAF use doesn't help that, either.