California Cancels $208 Million IT Overhaul Halfway Through

g01d4 writes "According to the LA Times, 'California's computer problems, which have already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, have mounted as state officials cut short work on a $208-million DMV technology overhaul that is only half done. The state has spent $135 million total on the overhaul so far. The state's contractor, HP Enterprise Services, has received nearly $50 million of the money spent on the project. Botello said the company will not receive the remaining $26 million in its contract. ... Last week, the controller's office fired the contractor responsible for a $371-million upgrade to the state's payroll system, citing a trial run filled with mishaps. More than $254 million has already been spent.' It's hard not to feel like the Tokyo man in the street watching the latest round of Godzilla the state vs. Rodan the big contractor."

Comments

Fallacy of Sunk Costs

[Galaga88]

I'm glad to see that they didn't fall prey too badly to the fallacy of sunk costs. Too many places wouldn't realize they've already lost the money they threw at the project, and no amount of extra spending in the hopes that it will eventually succeed will get that back.

Re:Typical of the Federal Government too

[tibit]

It's not about the government. It's all about the useless IT consulting companies. Pretty much every single flashy consulting company billboard/AD that you see at an airport is just a way to milk the gullible and not deliver. This is an across-the-board problem. Nobody wants to fucking do their jobs. The government thinks they don't need the right people to do it, so they hire a contractor. The contractor doesn't want to do the job either, it's not their core competency (nobody knows what it is anyway), so they hire subcontractors. Subcontractors have very little vested interest in anything, and they maybe deliver, maybe not, but due to multiple layers of clueless management, it's of no use anyway. So there you go.

Re:Typical of the Federal Government too

[MightyYar]

I thought it was an "emoticon" of a large breasted woman giving the finger.

Re:Typical of the Federal Government too

[Virtucon]

Oh good grief what a bunch of bunk. Do you know why big contracting companies exist? It's because companies have lost faith in their internal organizations to deliver. Plain and simple. I've seen it in dozens of organizations in my career where an entrenched group builds a castle of "can't." So, the execs hire an outside firm not only to get what they want but to also force these little castles to actually deliver something. Lazy contractors? Please, how about lazy employees who feel that they hold the keys and as long as they keep pushing back and feel empowered so nobody is going to mess with their careers even though they may be doing such innovative things like writing System 360 Assembly Language. It's everywhere and it's not just in IT, people in this country have become lazy and foolish relying on attitude rather than customer service and trying to do a good job.
Every large organization has this problem and IT isn't just one of the areas where dead space can occur. So, the big companies come in, push change, make big promises that sometimes are overblown. In the case of California I could probably guess that the specifications of what were required were done by bureaucrats who have no clue on how to spec out requirements or were based on something that wasn't possible to build. Are there bad firms? yes, but are there bad customers? hell yes and they can make it absolutely impossible to deliver anything because the same people who have to approve or test anything are usually overworked, or not committed to the project leaving the contractor and subsequently the whole project in limbo. That usually leaves to failure despite the best efforts of all parties involved.

So before you blame consulting companies for this failure, remember they wouldn't exist if people were doing their job or came to the realization that their skills and abilities are out of alignment with what their management expects.

Re:Typical of the Federal Government too

[Lije Baley]

There are some cases also where this misalignment of skills and management expectations is more of a management deficiency. Many organizations have technical people who are quite willing and capable, but they have been pigeon-holed and beaten down by policies which incentivize apathy. I have worked with long-time developers in quasi-government jobs who have skills only on legacy systems, and I have had the pleasure of helping them participate in the development of modern SOA interfaces. Most of these people just need an opportunity to learn, grow, and feel like their contributions will be meaningful. And it is not expensive, in fact if it looks expensive you are doing it wrong! You don't need or want conventional "training" for them, and if it is done right, it can cost little or nothing in extra time. These people have a goldmine of lost productivity to tap into -- productivity that poor management has beaten out of them and that good management can cash in on.