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Source Code Dispute in Boston's Big Dig
JoshuaDFranklin writes "Boston's 'Big Dig' is famously long-running and over budget as noted before on Slashdot. But now Computerworld is reporting that a Software Ownership Battle Adds $10M to Cost of 'Big Dig'. The legal dispute was over whether Massachusetts had the right to share Transdyn source code with Honeywell, causing $2.72 million in damages and $7.2 million in costs of a four-month delay in the project."
... anyone care to fill us in on what the big dig is?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
.. that (at least in the UK) government overspends on IT is quite common, so I'm not overly surprised really.
http://www.computing.co.uk/news/1139418
"So there he is, risen from the dead. Like that fella, E. T." - Father Ted Crilly
So, let me get this straight: the problem was settled out of court for $350,000, but not before it had cost over $10 Million in over-runs and "damages".
Once again, a triumph for dumbasses in Project Management everywhere. I guarantee you nobody lost their job over this. Not having the foresight to either keep the code Open, or secure the rights to the code when the contracts were signed, they should be though.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
Whenever I've written software for the federal government, they get the source code and everything they need to maintain the software themselves or have someone else do the work.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
No way is it the same as Open Source. I'm assuming that the source code of Dynac is closed source/trade secret and has been cut to fit the specific bespoke requirements on this job. In some bespoke software models, it is advantageous to prevent access to the source, and limit interoperability with the outside world, in order to prolong the business relationship and create repeat business, by creating high costs to switch. It is a very old trick that all proper project managers are wary of. But it is quite legal unless the contract says otherwise.
I stole this
The original bid went out in 1994 according to the article - which at that point access to source code was not a foreseeable issue for a lot of people in government purchasing departments.
Also, this project was slated to take nearly a decade, at which point it was more than likely that other software might be available that would be able to handle the task.
It's interesting to note that on top of the $10M, Honeywell upped their charge from a bidded $104M to $188M and explains away their cost overrun as a result of this dispute. So really, we're looking at now 94 Million Dollars being blamed on some poor schmuck in a purchasing department for not knowing that he should have included a source code clause in one of the 85 contracts he supervised that quarter.
Now the purchasing people I know would blacklist any contractors associated with that kind of catastrophe, but then again, I don't know any of the bozo's working on the Big Dig.
I understand that things can get out of hand occassionally and sometimes deadlines get missed and costs get to be over-budget. But nearly 100% over budget with no end in site? Just for this piece of the overall project that is wrought with this kind of thing? Maybe you shouldn't be hiring your project managers from the "welfare-to-work" program.
HTSI eventually managed to recover. Lockheed royally screwed up their contract with NASA so it was ended early and HTSI managed to win on recompetes - by slitting their own throats but that is a story for another day... HTSI negotiated a way to end their involvement in Big Dig early (I guess HTSI learned a lesson and will only get involved in federal level contracts). Rumors are that Transdyn are negotiating to get back into writing the code for Big Dig. Hopefully they will have better luck the second time around. I'm sure there are lots of helpful comments in the current source revs in the ITS software for whoever develops it (particularly Transdyn :P)
I work for a state department.
Current Federal law concerngin states and software is
If we give you money for it it becomes ours to do with as we please, source included.
Thats just the way it is. There is more code sharing that goes on between states then goes on on Kazza.
Unfortunatly 99% of the stuff is so state specific it takes 6 months to get it to work anywhere but where it was designed to run.
very few states that get as much or more from the Federal government as they pay
False. Most states receive more from DC than they pay to it. Here's a complete list, with reference.
I was having a conversation about this very topic with my brother in law the other night. He's a civil engineer who worked on the big dig for a number of years, until he decided to get out while his sanity was intact.
We were discussing the now infamous leaks in the tunnel. The basic reason the tunnel leaks comes down to politics. Back in the day, ordinary people were treated as less than pawns when transportation projects were planned. They'd think nothing of bulldozing an entire historic neighborhood if it made some phase of the project a bit easier. And they put roads whereever the straightedge put the line, and anything the line went over be damned. Douglas Adams fans are familiar with this attitude. Boston neighborhoods have suffered particularly from this way of doing things. The West End, which was an ethnic neighborhood very similar to the now toney North End, was simply leveled in the name of "slum clearance", which meant razing the cozy little brick neighborhood and putting up massive, antiseptic, windswept concrete structures. When the original Central Artery was planned, they did not have the chutzpah to raze the old Faneuil Hall and it's marketplace, but they did plop a huge highway down between it and the waterfront. This process delayed the redevelopment of the old industrial waterfront for years, probably cost the economy billions.
This process was so egregiously insensitive that entire political careers were made opposing transportation projects (how else does a guy like Mike Dukakis get to be governor?). People swore that never again would they destroy a neighborhood for the convenience of a transportation project. The political pendulum has swung so far the other way, that the decision was made when the new Central Artery was planned not to destroy a single building more than was physically necessary. As you know, in any engineering project, when one priority rises to the top, the others have to drop. That includes cost and water proofing.
The way to accomplish this priority was to build the new highway almost entirely within the footprint of the old one, while the old one continued to run, not to mention avoiding any disruption of Boston's utilties, some of which date to the 19th century. The process was compared to doing open heart surgery on a patient while the patient played a game of tennis.
Now, the leaks. In order to build the new tunnel more or less on the footprint of the old one, they excavated on the sides and built a slurry wall by injecting concrete into the excavation. Is it any surprise that it leaks? But, they did manage to build the thing without disrupting neighborhoods, other than the regular rerouting of traffic. And the artery, amazingly, actually does work -- traffic flows much better than it did before. And no building, no matter how old, unatrractive and decrepit, was taken down unless absolutely necessary, and cost be damned. But of course the tunnel leaks, and now Bechtel is stepping up and performing its predestined role as scapegoat. The rumors say that Bechtel was the best choice for this role because as a firm with strong Republican connections working on a Democrat instigated project, they wouldn't be sued quite as much.
And thus the political excesses of one era make up in a rough (but expensive) way for those of another.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
For anybody else who has lived somewhere other then boston (I grew up in California). Some useful facts.
Boston is a really small city. It's well-known, so most people don't realize this. To give you a sense of scale:
Boston is 43.68 square miles: http://www.mass.info/boston.ma/facts.htm
LA city is 465.9 square miles.
http://www.ci.la.ca.us/facts2.htm
LA county is 4,084 square miles.
But a lot of people live here.
And they can't seem to decide on one form of transportation.
So far the subway seems the most rational, and it's not really rational (what's funny is all directions for the subway are given in relation to Boston, not using, north, south, etc). But basically it's a weird mash of trains, buses and cars, and nothing is done well. It's always half-assed. Even the subway system, which is the best system they got, doesn't bother to extend much beyond boston proper, so you have to drive or take the rail to get to the T, and they didn't think to put any large parking structures nearby the stations.
And now, for once, they are trying to build an actual highway (more then 6 lanes.. omg! ), (ok the turnpike occasionally has 8 lanes) and underground to boot. So, of course, they're totally fucking it up.
So basically boston is:
Small
Crowded
Filled with lazy people who don't want to walk anywhere.
And filled with people who think eight inches of snow is a "emergency condition". Hey, if buildings aren't decimated, its weather, not a natural disaster...
And also, many of the people here are totally narcissitic. There are really people here with no concept of a world beyond boston.