Techlines Today

Census Bureau needs grandpa’s abacus

By Adam Myers ⋅ April 8, 2008 ⋅ Tags: government idiocy, nasa

There’s an old axiom on how NASA spent millions to research and develop a pen that functions in space, while the Russians turned to the trusty pencil. This tale isn’t quite accurate

but nonetheless, it’s a perfect example of the frivolous spending that happens with your tax dollars by the US government. It’s happened again, sadly. After spending 600 million on a new fancypants computer system, the Census Bureau has scrapped the use of technology for the 2010 census. The rationale, it’s just too damn complicated and not nearly as powerful. Instead, it’s back to good ol pen and paper! Clearly, the pen is mightier than the .. computer?

The feds initially were going to pay Harris Corp. about $600 million - roughly $1,200 per computer. This being the federal government, however, the cost of the contract has ballooned to $1.3 billion, and now we’re only getting 151,000 computers. The cost of Harris Corp.’s help desk services alone rose from $36 million to $217 million.

Why? Because the government bungled the contracting process, Gutierrez admitted. The bureau kept changing the specifications for the system. He blamed the problems on the size of the contract and “a lack of effective communication.”

There you have it Project Managers, next time you are over budget it is quite acceptable to chalk it up to “a lack of effective communication.” For any venture capitalists out there, look for start-ups that focus on obtaining and fulfilling government contracts.

Technology,  what is it good for really?

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