[crusso]

Yeah, and for $33M they couldn't build in some iterations and bring in focus groups or hire someone competent to get it at least partially right the first time?

These projects are handed out to reward the connected contractors, contributors and lobbyists that know how to work their target politicians and bureaucrats. There are ZERO incentives to do quality work. No one will lose his job over this software travesty. No one will get demoted. Rather than bemoan the waste of $32.9M on the job, politicians will simply push for higher taxes.

[wpietri]

Putting iterations into a procurement process is very hard. How does one bid against that? How can one control costs? How can we know the cost of the project up front if we don't know exactly what will be done? And if there's a disagreement about whether the project is really done, how do you litigate without a clear spec?

It's not totally impossible to do something agile in a government context, but it requires much more skill and trust from all involved. It's risky. And nobody outside the government is very understanding when things blow up, which happens more when you pick risky choices.