This. The article sorta pines in the end for smaller "more agile devs", but I'm not sure a small shop could just come in and bust this out. There is SO MANY l

This. The article sorta pines in the end for smaller "more agile devs", but I'm not sure a small shop could just come in and bust this out. There is SO MANY legacy systems that need to interface with this beast. I wouldn't put it past the designers to have been rate-limited at 50,000 whatevers by one of the vendors of the other systems that they have to talk to. Computers from the IRS have been hanging in there sometimes as far back as 40 years ago. I'm sure systems at many other of the lettered agencies are hobbling along just as well. I totally agree that the government needs to become more lucrative to smaller more agile groups. I think it could ultimately get better products at lower prices if it opens up bidding. That said, the government has massive needs and massive legacy systems that many small shops may have a hard time reconciling. There's always ways to theorize about how the government could standardize and modernize its disparate stuff, but that requires strong leadership, a good direction, and money. None of these things appear to be in abundance right now. It's really unfortunate.