I'm glad you're not managing my business - you're not a public servant in Canberra by any chance? I can buy a
No doubt you can buy cheaper equipment but the point is there is only one supplier of the machine that prints the specified security foil (Kinegram). Last time I checked cost was well over $35k. A hologram machine may well provide equivalent tamper evident security but the physical aspects of the ASIC are specified in the regs which are not easily changed.
I know I am probably coming accross as a govt employee or rampant supporter of all aspects of Avsec. I am not but like many others here, I know full well the system is in dire need of a makeover. That though won't be achieved through spleen venting on PPRUNE.
Peuce in his post above summed up this discussion pretty well