NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
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Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#2Michael Bloomberg might have a point, but he really isn't in a strong position to complain about shitty overpriced software. Glass houses and all that.
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#3Michael Bloomberg might have a point, but he really isn't in a strong position to complain about shitty overpriced software. Glass houses and all that.
He's in the perfect position to complain.
The role of Bloomberg the businessman is independent of Bloomberg the public servant. He can sell overpriced software as a businessman all he wants, but once he becomes mayor his responsibility is as a steward of the public's money and to combat ridiculous overpriced projects such as mentioned here.
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#4Michael Bloomberg might have a point, but he really isn't in a strong position to complain about shitty overpriced software. Glass houses and all that.
I don't think his complaint is so much about shitty software as it is about criminal activities relating to its creation. Carl Bell (the executive in charge of the project) plead guilty to approving charges from a contractor for years when he wasn't even on the project. I think Bloomberg has a strong argument that there was fraud going on here.
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#5CityTime was launched in 2003 at a budget of $63 million, but costs swelled dramatically as the project stumbled along for nearly a decade.
From $63M to $600M? I would have thought that ppl may have noticed when the costs doubled or tripled the budget. Almost 10x the original budget? That type of oversight must go pretty high up.
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#6Michael Bloomberg might have a point, but he really isn't in a strong position to complain about shitty overpriced software. Glass houses and all that.
What position are you in to declare the Bloomberg terminal 'shitty overpriced software'?
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#7Some background on this:
Mark Mazer, CityTime consultant accused of scamming millions, has checkered past of investigations http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-12-23/local/29441786_1_...
CityTime Crook Pleads Guilty As Defendant List Grows http://gothamist.com/2011/02/11/citytime_crook_pleads_guilty...
Mark Mazer Indictment [scribd] http://www.scribd.com/doc/58405089/Mazer-Mark-Et-Al-S2-Indic...
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#8Although New York has "received a working system that will advance our management ability ... because the project was apparently tainted by fraud and kickback schemes, the City must be made whole"
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The city is also planning to launch a request for information (RFI) process in January in search of alternative timekeeping systems.
Wow. So they eventually got a working system. Now they're throwing it away and going to purchase a new one? Meanwhile turning 83 contractors into FTE's to maintain the existing system? This seems like complete craziness for something as commoditized as timekeeping software.
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#9How complicated must that piece of software have been for it to cost that much? For that kind of money it better be at least as complex as any OS out there.
Re: NYC mayor demands $600M refund on software project
#10Although New York has "received a working system that will advance our management ability ... because the project was apparently tainted by fraud and kickback schemes, the City must be made whole" ... The city is also planning to launch a request for information (RFI) process in January in search of alternative timekeeping systems. Wow. So they eventually got a working system. Now they're throwing it away and going t…
This is fairly common; a decent, working solution already exists, but (the) government wants to do its own instead of adopting the existing system, and the bills begin piling up.