Been there and done that, but the point is that despite all the project controls required by federal IT projects, the $1.3 billion elephant remains in the room. It's well documented that there's lots of blame to go around on all sides, but sheesh a biliion here, a billion there can add up
Seriously, debacles such as the one at Census happens with alarming frequency in the federal government, for example the cancellation of the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) program cost at least $4 billion: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/washington/11satellite.html?_r=1#step1 sophia On Mon, Aug 24, 2009 at 2:23 PM, Bucci, David G <[email protected]>wrote: > And ... speaking as someone who works as a gov't contractor day in and day > out ... you're ignoring all of the costs associated with the applicable > gov't processes (reviews, mandatory QA and CM processes, FAR related earned > value mgmt, documentation/contract deliverables, etc.). If you've never > been-there-done-that, it can be hard to comprehend just how much such > requirements can add to a contract. > > Not making a value statement on whether all of that is or isn't important > ... just saying you're comparing apples to oranges. > > ------------------------------ > *From*: [email protected] < > [email protected]> > *To*: [email protected] <[email protected]> > *Sent*: Mon Aug 24 14:04:48 2009 > *Subject*: [Geowanking] FW: 2010 census > > > It would take about two months for a team of 10 people, 5 cars, to drive > and enter all that data just for the city of San Francisco. That's assuming > you already have the cars, software, and well trained staff. If you wanted > point addressing then add on another 4 months. Its a lot easier to get > parcel data from the city or county. > > Not sure about the cost but the time would be huge. > > ------------------------------ > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:08:31 -0500 > Subject: Re: [Geowanking] 2010 census > > I didn’t think it would be **that** bad. > > > > What if OSM raised a pile of $$$ from various interested parties and got > their own fleet of tripped-out google/nvt/ta/immersive media style cars and > drove the country and mechanical turk/offshore extracted relevant attribute > data? Any idea how much it could be done for? Hell, easily under 10% of what > Harris got. And it would get done a lot faster than their current schedukle > > > > Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc > > 690 Fifth Street San Francisco CA 94107 > > T.415.946.8170 x800 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog > > > > *From:* Mikel Maron [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Friday, August 21, 2009 10:04 AM > *To:* sophia parafina; Ian White > *Cc:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [Geowanking] 2010 census > > > > The most depressing, shameful thing I've read in a long time. Also > strangely encouraging. > > Can someone start a shit-storm on this please? $1.3 billion?!! > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* sophia parafina <[email protected]> > *To:* Ian White <[email protected]> > *Cc:* "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Thursday, August 20, 2009 8:05:30 PM > *Subject:* Re: [Geowanking] 2010 census > > Harris Census effort == FAIL > > http://blogs.zdnet.com/projectfailures/?p=660 > http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?filepath=/dailyfed/0509/052009mm.htm > > Ethan Zuckerman's description of the device: > > > http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/04/27/if-us-government-contractors-had-designed-the-iphone/ > > My understanding is that they are going to use paper maps, mark them up, > scan and georeference them back in, then heads-up digitize the changes. ( > http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/world/americas/03iht-3census.11652877.html > ) > > This is the part that irks me the most (from > http://fcw.com/Articles/2008/04/07/Census-counts-on-paper-for-2010.aspx?Page=1 > ) > > "Despite the problems, Census awarded Harris two bonus fees under the > cost-plus contract. The company now stands to make $1.3 billion on the deal. > Gutierrez said that if Census officials had not decided to revert to paper > forms, Harris would have made $1.9 billion." > > So yeah, Census, after giving Harris $1.3 billion, is implementing what > essentially amounts to http://walking-papers.org/ > > sophia > > On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 2:38 PM, Ian White <[email protected]> wrote: > Ok, I know this is an unnaturally practical topic, but I’ve been thinking > about Census’ 2010 project relative to address verification/TIGER data. For > those who don’t know, Harris Corp, Census’ long time contractor for census, > is going high tech—Sprint is OEMing gear to Harris to enable remote address > verification and (I think) collection of other spatial data. There are a few > GAO and other reports (eg, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06272.pdf and > http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20080409144834.pdf) that are critical > of Harris’ approach/capabilities. > > Something I couldn’t resist: check out this HOT HOT HOT phone-type thing > that will be used for geocoding in the field: > http://www.harris.com/images/fdca.jpg. Apparently planning was begun in > 2004 so there was no iPhone on the scene. What a drag as I’m sure the app > could have been developed for less than the $600m contract (which is for the > entire census, not the brick alone). > > Who has details about TIGER for 2010? > > > Ian White :: Urban Mapping Inc > 690 Fifth Street Suite 200 :: San Francisco CA 94107 > T.415.946.8170 x800 :: F.866.385.8266 :: urbanmapping.com/blog > > > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org > > > > ------------------------------ > Hotmail® is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. Try it > now.<http://windowslive.com/online/hotmail?ocid=PID23391::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HYGN_faster:082009> > ------------------------------ > Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you’re up to on > Facebook. Find out > more.<http://windowslive.com/Campaign/SocialNetworking?ocid=PID23285::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:SI_SB_facebook:082009> > > _______________________________________________ > Geowanking mailing list > [email protected] > http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org > >
_______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://geowanking.org/mailman/listinfo/geowanking_geowanking.org
