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Government IT is famously expensive, and so often a disaster. I recently needed to open an account with a local agency. The fun started with two date fields on

Government IT is famously expensive, and so often a disaster. I recently needed to open an account with a local agency. The fun started with two date fields on the web form, which turned out (trial and error) to require different formats. I finally received my credentials, but they didn't work. Assuming that the password was likely the problem, I tried the password reset function, only to get a 404 error. The person I corresponded with was very polite, but it took three resets on their end, before I could finally log in. A private company with these issues would go out if business. The government probably just hires another incompetent dweeb, who will have a job for life.

ta1243 3y ago
The government probably has outsourced this to the only company which bid based on some "anti-corruption" or "fair-trading" rules which were passed. There is of course no way to hold that outsourced company to account.
- legitster 3y ago
  If you actually read the story, this was directly with Seattle's IT department.
  - lainga 3y ago
    bradley13's local agency was Seattle's IT department?
- kelnos 3y ago
  More like the company made the lowest bid, and their bid was intentionally lower than the actual cost of building what the agency wanted built, so they did the least work possible to get it to vaguely work, and moved on.
  - ta1243 3y ago
    ...and internal rules will mean that the lowest bid will have to be taken. Probably a bit of both. I'd be very nervous about jumping through the hoops that come with supplying to government -- hoops the people working in the government don't want, but ones that have been put in by politicians for various reasons.
    - iAMkenough 3y ago
      External rules too. In the US, some state legislatures like to take away local control from counties and municipalities for political reasons. An IT manager for your city might know what the best solution would be, but depending on the State's bidding requirements they may be forced to take the lowest bidder even if they know there will be issues, but they meet the basic requirements of the ask. They need to teach government RFP/RFB writing in grade school.
zht 3y ago
It’s funny because I once had to hand edit the form on an experian website to sign up because their stupid UI wouldn’t let me enter in a date in the right format
eschneider 3y ago
Oof, when I started my new job this year, my I-9 form was rejected with what turned out to be two date fields with different formats. That took some debugging on my part to figure out. :/
stevage 3y ago
Do you know any competent IT professionals who would want to work in government for that salary? No. That is why government IT is not very good. It's a terrible environment to work in, and the pay is not good compared to private sector.
- niceice 3y ago
  Where does all the money go? Healthcare.gov cost $840 million, in 2014 dollars, to develop.
  - stevage 3y ago
    In that case, probably a lot of external consultants. Plus that is just inherently a gigantic project with a million stakeholders etc.
    - langsoul-com 3y ago
      But there's tons of very very large projects and they surely don't cost $840m to develop.

ta1243 3y ago

The government probably has outsourced this to the only company which bid based on some "anti-corruption" or "fair-trading" rules which were passed. There is of course no way to hold that outsourced company to account.

legitster 3y ago
If you actually read the story, this was directly with Seattle's IT department.
- lainga 3y ago
  bradley13's local agency was Seattle's IT department?
kelnos 3y ago
More like the company made the lowest bid, and their bid was intentionally lower than the actual cost of building what the agency wanted built, so they did the least work possible to get it to vaguely work, and moved on.
- ta1243 3y ago
  ...and internal rules will mean that the lowest bid will have to be taken. Probably a bit of both. I'd be very nervous about jumping through the hoops that come with supplying to government -- hoops the people working in the government don't want, but ones that have been put in by politicians for various reasons.
  - iAMkenough 3y ago
    External rules too. In the US, some state legislatures like to take away local control from counties and municipalities for political reasons. An IT manager for your city might know what the best solution would be, but depending on the State's bidding requirements they may be forced to take the lowest bidder even if they know there will be issues, but they meet the basic requirements of the ask. They need to teach government RFP/RFB writing in grade school.

zht 3y ago

It’s funny because I once had to hand edit the form on an experian website to sign up because their stupid UI wouldn’t let me enter in a date in the right format

eschneider 3y ago

Oof, when I started my new job this year, my I-9 form was rejected with what turned out to be two date fields with different formats. That took some debugging on my part to figure out. :/

stevage 3y ago

Do you know any competent IT professionals who would want to work in government for that salary? No. That is why government IT is not very good. It's a terrible environment to work in, and the pay is not good compared to private sector.

niceice 3y ago
Where does all the money go? Healthcare.gov cost $840 million, in 2014 dollars, to develop.
- stevage 3y ago
  In that case, probably a lot of external consultants. Plus that is just inherently a gigantic project with a million stakeholders etc.
  - langsoul-com 3y ago
    But there's tons of very very large projects and they surely don't cost $840m to develop.