Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
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procuremancer.bsky.social
Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
@procuremancer.bsky.social
86 followers 83 following 40 posts
I am an enchanter of enterprises, to some the sorcerer of strategic sourcing, for industry the baba yaga of buying, in technical meetings I am can be a warlock of work breakdown structures, I am the Acquisition Alchemist. There are some who call me...Tim?
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procuremancer.bsky.social
I have to see the acquisition package for this, the government cost estimate, the acquisition plan, solicitations, etc. This is phenomenal

www.newsweek.com/satellite-im...
Satellite images show where Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz" is being built
"Once you're there, there's nowhere to go, nowhere to hide," Florida's attorney general said of the new facility.
www.newsweek.com
June 24, 2025 at 2:29 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
The thrilling conclusion of my iPhone story is now out for the dozens of you who read it:
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io/the-agony-an...
The Agony and Ecstacy of the U.S. Government's Relationship with Apple's iPhone, Part 5 - the Conclusion
"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may li...
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io
June 9, 2025 at 3:34 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
I just keep thinking about Margaret Hamilton essentially inventing software as a govie for the Apollo program in the 1960s versus this...
June 7, 2025 at 11:58 AM
procuremancer.bsky.social
Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew...I believe Icarus was not failing as he fell, but just coming to the end of his triumph.
alt18f.bsky.social Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · May 28
We have some news to share with you. 🥄

Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.
18F files legal challenge
A statement about 18F’s appeal filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.
18f.org
May 28, 2025 at 10:09 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
Seeing this is what made me write up my encounter with these, I'd guess this cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 million.
cwarzel.bsky.social Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · May 13
"fully operational mobile McDonald’s unit" is a phrase that makes me feel like maybe i've passed away and all the news i read is all just the final neurons in my brain racing around making haphazard connections in the moments before darkness
onestpress.onestnetwork.com Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · May 13
As part of the red-carpet treatment, Saudi officials arranged for a fully operational mobile McDonald’s unit to accompany President Trump during his stay.

According to local reports, the unit was set up near the Saudi Royal Court.
May 17, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
I love it when the season-long plot lines finally converge
May 16, 2025 at 11:07 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
Hopefully some light weekend reading, a break from my iPhone story. This is something I shared in a different forum recently but in a much truncated format.
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io/industry-kno...
Industry Knows Best, Anecdote 1: Mobile Vehicle Units
I recently told a small group of folks this story, quasi-publicly, for the first time. But I had to do it in 5 minutes. You lose a lot of the flair with that kind of time constraint. So here's the who...
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io
May 17, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Reposted by Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
edzitron.com
Hey isn't it weird that every single AI lab is saying that their ultra-powerful flagship AI model is just around the corner, but it isn't ready yet and you can't see it and they don't know when it'll be done? Isn't it strange that everybody is having the same problems?
Meta’s recent challenges mirror stumbles or delays at other top AI companies that are trying to release their next big state-of-the-art models. Some researchers see the pattern as evidence that future advances in AI models could come at a far slower pace than in the past, and at tremendous cost. “Right now, the progress is quite small across all the labs, all the models,” said Ravid Shwartz-Ziv, an assistant professor and faculty fellow at New York University’s Center for Data Science. GPT-5, one of OpenAI’s next big technological leaps forward, was initially expected around mid-2024, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. In December, The Journal reported that development on the model was running behind schedule. In February, OpenAI Chief Sam Altman said the model would be released as GPT-4.5 and that GPT-5—the model they hoped would come with bigger technological breakthroughs—was still months away. ChatGPT currently runs on versions of GPT-4o. OpenAI declined to comment on the timing of GPT-5’s release. Anthropic last year said it was working on a new model called Claude 3.5 Opus, a larger version of the AI models it released last year and has continued to update. That heftier version still hasn’t been released. A spokeswoman says Opus is coming soon.
May 15, 2025 at 8:59 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
*NO AI WHEN WE'RE WORKING ON HUMAN THINKING*
May 14, 2025 at 3:37 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
A perfect storm starts forming...Governor Rick Perry shows up, someone tries to commit murder, typewriters, Nintendo cartridges, American Psycho, and more in just another day in the life of a government buyer...

plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io/the-agony-an...
The Agony and the Ecstacy of the U.S. Government's Relationship with Apple's iPhone, Part 4
2013 was an amazing confluence of events that can best be described by a quote from Sebastian Junger's book A Perfect Storm: "Meteorologists see perfection in strange things, and the meshing of three...
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io
May 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
Besides the possible criming here, I don't understand the technical benefit. As @edzitron.com has been marvelously reporting on -- they would need training more data than has ever existed or basically could ever exist to advance the current crop of AI models. So what's the point of this?
jtlg.bsky.social James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · May 13
This is why I said "I have no clue!" to the reporters who asked me to comment on the Copyright Office purge and the AI report.

The political motivations behind the publicly visible parts of the drama were not obvious, and we still don't have the full story.

www.theverge.com/politics/666...
Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired
Trump fired the head of the Copyright Office over the weekend.
www.theverge.com
May 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
May 14, 2025 at 10:17 AM
procuremancer.bsky.social
I signed the fork today, maybe saving myself or someone else from getting RIF'ed...and ServiceNow's electronic signature came out in Comic Sans.

I have been laughing at this fact for far longer than I should.
May 14, 2025 at 10:12 AM
procuremancer.bsky.social
The saga continues...
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io/the-agony-an...
The Agony and Ecstacy of the U.S. Government's Relationship with Apple's iPhone, Part 3
The Search for Apple Sellers and Buyers Gets Weird... All thoughts, opinions, and other words here are exclusively the personal opinions of the author and do not express any official position, statem...
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io
May 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
With #Andor ending soon I demand a nature mockumentary about a group of Ghorman refugees rescuing and re-habitating some of the spiders on a new planet.

3 season minimum named Star Webs.
May 11, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Reposted by Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
pkrugman.bsky.social
So let me get this straight: masks are bad and un-American if worn to fight a pandemic, but good if worn by people claiming to be government agents when they kidnap people off the street
May 10, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
funnysnarkyjoke.bsky.social
Cloven Hooved Horned Satan sitting in a library reading books to kids since we can't do drag storytime anymore....i thought we'd try something else
May 10, 2025 at 1:43 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
The for-profit prison industry is impressive, not only do they get to make money on every inmate but then they get special treatment in government contracting and get to pay slave wages (cents/hr) for all kinds of stuff as "rehabilitation"

www.bop.gov/inmates/cust...
May 10, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
randyhart.bsky.social
Yeah they cancelled it. Clown show. Feel bad for the contracting officers over there.

federalnewsnetwork.com/contracting/...
May 10, 2025 at 3:04 AM
procuremancer.bsky.social
The thing I'm academically curious about here is the actual *mechanism*?

Because from what I've seen they've been fucking up "termination for convenience".

I have no idea how you ressurect? Do they sole source? Say oops? So many lawsuits...

DOGE’s Zombie Contracts: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...
DOGE’s Zombie Contracts: They Were Killed but Have Come Back to Life
www.nytimes.com
May 10, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Reposted by Mark Hopson aka the Procuremancer
altusds.altgov.info
The RNC says they’re interviewing the “smartest people” in every state to join DOGE, so we took the quiz. Spoiler: it’s not going well.

🧵 Read the full breakdown and laugh (so you don’t cry): https://bit.ly/3SubBbb

#WeTheBuilders #BuiltToServe #FederalGov #DOGE
A digital newsletter header for "Built to Serve." The title reads “Thanks for the Interview, I Guess?” with a subtitle underneath: “The RNC asked if we support the destruction of public institutions. We took the quiz. You can guess how it went.” At the top left is the We the Builders logo—crossed wrench and spoon with stars. The issue date is noted at the bottom: “Issue 12 – May 9, 2025.” The design uses blue and gold on a white background with a gradient border.
May 10, 2025 at 1:26 AM
procuremancer.bsky.social
I've started writing a confessional about my 14 years in government. Past is Prologue:

plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io
Plucking the Eagle: My Misadventures in Government
Thoughts, stories and ideas.
plucking-the-eagle-my-misadventures-in-government.ghost.io
May 9, 2025 at 6:18 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
Fun fact: I was in the room with FEMA's senior IT leadership trying to fix their backend IT infrastructure during Trump 1.0 when they fired *that* FEMA administrator and everyone got notices on their phones as the same time. This one seems like a better reason to get fired over than that other guy.
May 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
procuremancer.bsky.social
I lived, loved, and laughed. But then I burned out and gave up on social media, work, and more...then DOGE came...
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of the word yeah .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of the word yeah .
media.tenor.com
May 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM