I couldn't agree more. I'm always mind-boggled why committee members ask officials to come and tell them what the acquisition cost of something is. The acquisition cost represents about 30% of the total life-cycle cost. It makes no difference. It makes no benefit, if you can have the front end if you don't have the back end. You ought to be asking about the full life cycle of the cost. That's why when I was there, if you recall, when we were doing major procurement, we bundled the acquisition with the full support. We looked at the overall life-cycle cost before awarding the contract as opposed to just ordering it with the company that perhaps had the lowest acquisition cost but later we would be faced with a huge incremental life-cycle cost.
There is absolutely no question that it's fundamental to change the way you think about business. That's why in my comments I can emphasize that it's that important. It's only 30ยข on every dollar to buy. Look at the overall life-cycle cost and make sure it's all there.