5 ms·
"buy first" means to have a policy of not doing it in-house unless there is no other option. In other words, they want 18F to subcontract out the work unless no
by zaphar 10y ago
"buy first" means to have a policy of not doing it in-house unless there is no other option. In other words, they want 18F to subcontract out the work unless no one is able to meet their requirements. Whether this is a actually a good policy for a government to have is not at all clear to me.
- st3v3r 10y agoIt's not. It removes the ability to look at a situation, and come up with the best solution for it. Sometimes it's better to outsource, sometimes it's better to do it yourself.
- ubernostrum 10y agoSure it's a terrible policy. But that's never how it's presented. It's presented as "Why does the government need a software shop? Isn't this just yet more government overreach and unfair meddling with the free market?" So, y'know, next time you see someone arguing along those lines, remember the real argument they're making is "this has the potential to help people and save taxpayer money, but it would cut off a fat government check to me or my buddies, so I have to find a moral argument against it".
- maxxxxx 10y agoIf they are forced to do "buy first" things will just continue as usual. You can't outsource well if you don't have a strong technical foundation in-house.