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CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

technologyreview.com

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Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#31

Post by josephg »

throwawayboise wrote: post #19
humbledrone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When will the politicians hang? What an appalling sentiment.

Why can't we speak figuratively anymore? Why is Deloitte getting all the blame here? Why is the government not responsible for this fiasco? They know very well what Deloitte is and what their track record is.

The government isn't a person. Its lot of people. And presumably the government people involved in this case assumed Deloitte (a well known, large consulting company) was trustworthy and capable.

No doubt the Deloitte sales reps had much more experience swindling clients than the government managers had experience covering themselves against dodgy software agencies.

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#32

Post by kadoban »

throwawayboise wrote: post #19
humbledrone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When will the politicians hang? What an appalling sentiment.

Why can't we speak figuratively anymore? Why is Deloitte getting all the blame here? Why is the government not responsible for this fiasco? They know very well what Deloitte is and what their track record is.

Doesn't come off very figurative when a mob literally tried to hang our politicians not even a month ago.

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#33

Post by hntrader »

didibus wrote: post #13

I just don't understand these software deals, the price is so high. At 44 million, you can hire 146 engineers each paid 300k for a full year. Trust me, you need much less to build something like this, and there's no excuse for it to suck so bad. I'm also curious, anyone know where the development actually happened? Did Deloitte further subcontracted out? Was it outsourced?

The Obamacare website cost $2 billion according to a Bloomberg piece in 2014. Don't ask me how that's even possible.

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#34

Post by buzzerbetrayed »

BoorishBears wrote: post #16
didibus wrote: post #13

I just don't understand these software deals, the price is so high. At 44 million, you can hire 146 engineers each paid 300k for a full year. Trust me, you need much less to build something like this, and there's no excuse for it to suck so bad. I'm also curious, anyone know where the development actually happened? Did Deloitte further subcontracted out? Was it outsourced?

I have no doubt the government got scammed, but often these estimates provision for things like ensuring phone support is available any time the website is up for accessibility requirements. That's also why you see some government sites operate on a 9-5 basis

> That's also why you see some government sites operate on a 9-5 basis

I’ve always wondered why this was the case. But surely inconveniencing the majority instead of making it more convenient for the minority is a step in the wrong direction. Whatever. Off topic...

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#35

Post by flunhat »

throwawayboise wrote: post #19
humbledrone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When will the politicians hang? What an appalling sentiment.

Why can't we speak figuratively anymore? Why is Deloitte getting all the blame here? Why is the government not responsible for this fiasco? They know very well what Deloitte is and what their track record is.

> Why can't we speak figuratively anymore?

Because a lot of people who hear that take it as literal encouragement. The events of Jan 6 are one example of how threats like that aren't simply rhetorical devices.

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#36

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

throwawayboise wrote: post #19
humbledrone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When will the politicians hang? What an appalling sentiment.

Why can't we speak figuratively anymore? Why is Deloitte getting all the blame here? Why is the government not responsible for this fiasco? They know very well what Deloitte is and what their track record is.

> Why can't we speak figuratively anymore?

Poe’s law is to blame. On the internet you can’t confidently tell when someone is being figurative.

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#37

Post by mewse »

throwawayboise wrote: post #19
humbledrone wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When will the politicians hang? What an appalling sentiment.

Why can't we speak figuratively anymore? Why is Deloitte getting all the blame here? Why is the government not responsible for this fiasco? They know very well what Deloitte is and what their track record is.

> Why can't we speak figuratively anymore?

Because it’s less than a month since people stormed the US capital, literally erecting a guillotine and literally calling for politicians they disliked to be hanged. How is this hard for you to understand?

If you want to speak figuratively, then maybe don’t do it using exactly the same speech that other people are demonstrably using and acting upon literally.

EDIT: “gallows”. I meant “gallows”, not “guillotine”. That’s an embarrassing mistake which will now live in my comment history forever!

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#39

Post by sillysaurusx »

lmilcin wrote: post #17

I have worked with Deloitte on two projects (on clients' side, I would never willingly work for Deloitte). Generally expect them to do absolute minimum necessary to meet the contract. The code was obfuscated to ensure support contract. The people employed to write it were not interested in the quality in the slightest but were interested a lot in specifics of the contract.

Lol.

How was the code obfuscated?

That brings back memories of php obfuscator. What a strange world that was. I think there was even a deobfuscator that tried to rename the variables sensibly, or something.

Re: CDC website built by Deloitte at a cost of $44M is abandoned due to bugs

#40

Post by ndiscussion »

josephg wrote: post #31
throwawayboise wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't we speak figuratively anymore? Why is Deloitte getting all the blame here? Why is the government not responsible for this fiasco? They know very well what Deloitte is and what their track record is.

The government isn't a person. Its lot of people. And presumably the government people involved in this case assumed Deloitte (a well known, large consulting company) was trustworthy and capable. No doubt the Deloitte sales reps had much more experience swindling clients than the government managers had experience covering themselves against dodgy software agencies.

Yep, that's the problem with congress and parliamentary systems. They divide guilt over hundreds of people, so that citizens cannot plausibly vote anyone out.

How naive and stupid are these government people? They've been swindled like this multiple times before, it was on the national news with the Obamacare website.

They're supposed to be the best we have. They won a vote after all.

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