Are U.S. taxpayers getting good value for big money spent on Antarctic climate research?

Denver News - Life in Antarctica is cold — but bloggers there can still get burned - page 1

Raytheon won the ten-year, $1.12 billion Antarctic Support Contract from the National Science Foundation in 1999 and reapplied this year, but it's facing competition from six other conglomerates that have spent millions of dollars just to prepare their bids. The new, thirteen-and-a-half-year contract is valued between $1.5 and $2 billion; it was supposed to be awarded October 1, but the NSF recently delayed its decision without explanation.

The contract involves not just supporting the NSF's scientific research — on climate change, astronomy, biology and atmospheric and environmental science — that has to be justified to Congress and to taxpayers, but also constructing and maintaining the buildings and equipment at the U.S. bases, providing water production and fuel operations, planning missions, transporting personnel and cargo, and maintaining communication.

Denver News - Life in Antarctica is cold — but bloggers there can still get burned - page 3

When Johnson went to work for the U.S. Antarctic Program...he figured he'd find adventure, beauty, penguins and lofty-minded scientists. Instead, he found boredom, alcohol and bureaucracy.... Johnson quickly shed his illusions about Antarctica.