[slurgfest]

That figure is clearly not for an Android app, that is a clear misrepresentation.

Who knows how it breaks down. This exposes a vast amount of queryable census data to the public (something which would normally be regarded as a good thing, particularly if you are a startup which uses data).

But, to be sure, we can just punish the government for ever releasing any data unless it had such a high fee attached that only huge corporations could afford to pay it.

You should FOIA some kind of itemization of how that huge number breaks down, rather than running to the press with a sensationalized version tailored more to partisan politics than to informing the public

[schwanksta]

You misread the post. He didn't query data about an Android app.

You really think $33 million is a reasonable number for building a web interface to existing data? Please, hire me for your next job.

And I'll just leave this here: https://github.com/ireapps/census

[crusso]

> You really think $33 million is a reasonable number for building a web interface to existing data?

Apparently, he/she does.

I really wish I could understand why, though. Government corruption and waste hurts us all. Why do some people blow it off so easily?

[_delirium]

Sure, I'd like to reduce government corruption and waste. However, I think most of the problems relate to scale and bureaucracy, not the public/private distinction. I've seen enough of how large multinational companies work to have my doubts about the private sector's efficiency and honesty, as well.

I suspect a lot of people opposed to "government" and "taxes" in some general sense have ulterior motives, mostly relating to libertarian ideology ("taxation is theft", etc.) or just plain not liking to pay taxes... as opposed to honestly assessing the efficiency of different organizations.

[jbooth]

Yeah, they should just have private subcontractors handle this stuff. Like IBM Federal or someone.

[crusso]

Well, since the government is the one that set up the whole game including how much they would pay for the work, how sub-contractors would be chosen, what methods would be use to ensure accountability and a quality product, etc. -- I think the target of your sarcasm is misplaced.

By the time IBM Federal got the project and could start coding, some bureaucracy of failure had already decided that $33M was a fair price for the specifications that they provided.

I know people who work on government projects like these. I know how the subcontractors are chosen. I can almost guarantee that the subcontractor who received this job had some special "in" with the decision maker on the government side through nepotism, trips to strip clubs, cash payouts, political connections, or something.

[jacoblyles]

Sometimes the truth is partisan. The government really doesn't have any incentive to be efficient, and really does dump giant amounts of money into a bonfire on a regular basis:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnX-D4kkPOQ

[jbooth]

Partisan nothing. It's only partisan if you think large private corps are somehow immune to wasting money. You think IBM charges fair, efficient prices for their private consulting? Big and bloated is big and bloated, whether it's Capital-G Government or the behaloed private sector.

I'd be willing to gamble real money on the following 2 facts about this project:

1) First thing IBM did was bill themselves for a couple hundred licenses of their own software.

2) The majority of the money was pissed away in meetings, and the majority of the dev time was spent on horrible multi-thousand line stored procedures for the ETL.

[thejefflarson]

You can download the data behind the interface here:

ftp://ftp2.census.gov/

My point being that the census data is independent of factfinder.

[jcromartie]

Who said the Android app cost $33M?