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Funding Tech For Government, Instead of Tech For Industry
An anonymous reader writes: If you're a creative engineer looking to build a product, you're probably going to end up starting your own business or joining an established one. That's where ideas get funding, and that's where products make a difference (not to mention money). Unfortunately, it also siphons a lot of the tech-related talent away from government (and by extension, everybody else), who could really benefit from this creative brilliance. That's why investor Ron Bouganim just started a $23 million fund for investment in tech companies that develop ideas for the U.S. government. Not only is he hoping to transfer some of the $74 billion spent annually by the government on technology to more efficient targets, but also to change the perception that the best tech comes from giant, entrenched government contractors.
The government-it industrial complex is controlled by the same sort of corrupt relationships that the military-industrial complex. Come in to that situation with new ideas and you will get slapped down by entrenched interests intent on making use of networks of people moving back and forth between government and industry in order to create personal wealth. New ideas and new technologies only rock the boat.
The classic example is the PPACA web site. Hundreds of millions spent on something that would be a 5-10 million dollar project in a sane world.
Lets say you have the best "mobile app" to do whatever, XYZ.
Oh great, govt customer wants it. They see it today. Well, thanks to procurement, it will be 18 months before they actually buy it. But, by that point, the product will have changed a good bit - well because that is what software does now a day. But, that isn't what Gov manager wanted - they want what they saw 18 months ago.
The sales cycle will chew startups up and spit them out. Not many can accommodate 18 month+ sales cycles.
And that even excludes the issues of continuing resolutions means they don't have cash to buy buy many shiny new objects.
I disagree. I think it's a problem of culture. Government jobs with union-y environments are not fun, for anyone. Good engineers quit because of dysfunction and poisonous workplace culture. The ones who stick around are either incompetent or just don't care about doing cool stuff and doing it well.
No amount of money in the universe is going to change the culture of working closely with the government.