Ponte,
You are being tested in order to justify the jobs of a very small handful of people and to warrant the commercial marketing and sale of a product being sold by a private company, the research and development for which has been funded with public money.
Do not be fooled into thinking your testing has anything to do with aviation safety.
And at £ 4,200 (or whatever it is exactly) a pop, there is the reason your CVD test now costs £ 120. The CAA has given AMEs a benchmark for charging, which will be used as leverage to promote the sale of the product - ONLY 35 Tests and you then make a profit....next it'll be "Buy One Get One Free, I said Buy One Get One Free!!!" Not forgetting of course that it they mandate it's use within legislation then AME's will HAVE to buy one or not be able to carry out their testing.
With no other product available on the market, this is undoubtedly a monopoly with potentially alleged forced sales tactics through legislative leverage, or what!!!!
Am I the only one who thinks that this is all about making money and stinks of cronyism and corruption?
I'm sure that if this was any other industry the Government Watchdogs and possibly even the SFO would be looking very closely into what has occurred here.
Rant over! Soapbox away!