$18M Being Spent to Redesign Recovery.gov Web Site

This is just a smokescreen so we dont realize he wants to veto the intelligence bill that would force Obama’s legislation and the government to actually be transparent and have to answer for what they have done.

Who ever heard of spending $18 million dollars on a website? Who is getting the money???

guesswhaturwrong, that intelligence bill dates back to 1947. If you’re going to whine about it, whine at Harry S Truman and every president since then. Not Obama.

Classic government…. Doesn’t know what anything costs, and spends 20 times what anyone else would (18 million for a web site is crazy!).

Oxymoron of the day: Responsible Government Spending.
It ranks right up there with “Vacation bible school”.

At this point even this foolishness does not surprise me. I have lost all faith in our government.

Is this administration completely nuts, or are the contracts for this redesign going the way of pork? Personally, I’d like to know the name and URL of the company that has been contracted. The dollar figure is patently absurd.
I repeat……Is this administration absolutely NUTS!?

You mean to tell me the government spent 18 million dollars to keep informed and answer the question of over 300 million people. Talking about your glass house! Finally a government that reports to the people!! I suppose next your going to tell me people actually have jobs to do this. Wow! straight forward and easy to understand! No economics of dung!! Go Obama Go!

For God’s sake… a web design job pays only about 20k a year these days at best.
I run a multi section/topic political site and do it in my spare time and do all the graphics and imbed live feeds chat and statistics for nothing.
Maybe I should get out of the health care business and stop saving lives for a living and work for the government.
I knew Obama was going to be true his word and cut the pork. I am guessing He meant instead of “fat” products (pork) he meant something more “Herbal”. You know, the kind one can smoke and lots of it. Because obviously someone in Washington is smoking something that kills brain cells.

18 Million for a website. Obsurd! Proving once again that both Republicans AND Democrats can gives millions of dollars to special people that are in cahoots with politicians. The fun will never end.

vidtweeker, there’s a big difference between $1.6 million and $18 million, don’t you think?

This isn’t your typical static web site.
The cost of this site is what companies usually pay for the infrastructure and technologies needed. When you check your account in ATT or BoA those API’s did not just make themselves. This site will have a lot of variables, calls, etc that people usually don’t know of.
Also the CMS (Content Management System) is not your typical Drupal or Joomla, it is a unique solution.
So stop complaining about how much this site is going to cost, most people have no idea how much work is involved in the sites they browse.

You have got to be kidding!! 18 million for a website? Not even ONE million. What the heck?
I went to that website and looked at California. All the stimulus money is going to areas that already have money not to the areas that need it!!!
I feel sick. I think we have been had…..again.

There’s a Twitter petition to pressure Smartronix into being transparent in how they are spending the $18 million. It is only reasonable, since the site is about transparency in spending the stimulus funds!
Sign/Tweet it here: http://act.ly/87

$10M in 6 months is a lot, even for government, but it’s not that hard:
Contracting reps are exceptionally inept at understanding the Web and have been copy/pasting the same 40 pages of RFP verbage for the last decade.
Contractors end up putting together impressive-on-paper teams of a dozen or more people to be sure they fully respond to all of the asinine requirements in the RFP, and then fill the positions with recent college grads w/ half the experience they promised at hourly rates less than 1/4 what their load is.
Meanwhile, half of the people on the team end up being expendable since their skillsets had much more to do with the RFP than with the reality of the project, yet they’re all kept on because each person in a chair translates to profit for the contractor, and nobody on the gov side has the heart to cut someone’s job.
Finally, the whole thing gets about half its features slashed right before deadline as the team of people doing real work is a few short, and there’s no additional funding since somebody dropped thousands of dollars on 8-core computers and every software suite known to man for the ‘social media team’ to shoe shop all day with.
Don’t even mention that internal gov server farms are charging tens of thousands for each database, stored procedure, API call, or dynamic anything that they have to set up. It’s all play money anyway, right?
Aaaand, that’s how you spend $18M on a crappy .gov website. Nobody in the private sector spends this much; they usually either know what they’re doing, or fail miserably for much cheaper before they get to the point of having to invest in this degree of ‘infrastructure.’ It is a hell of a lot of work though, and most people certainly do not appreciate what a good site (or even a functional one) should cost.
@David Baron: $20k a year? Maybe in India, dude. I bet your site is awesome, since you didn’t provide a url.

what a waste of money our brilliant politicians at work again , disgusting they all should be voted out !!! all of them !!!

what’s really going on wit our country? Just like schwarzneggar said Reality TV!! Except 24/7 on Obama!! Why not he’s the main man right? we need extensive media laws to allow us to really understand what is going on in office.. People’s power is under-estimated, use it.

Anyone who believes big government can do anything efficiently has been asleep. If they can’t provide a decently built website, how are they going to provide government managed healthcare without bankrupting the few who actually pay taxes? Government is NOT the answer. Just look to the VA to see the only model today for government run medicine. The VA fails veterans daily. Is THAT what you folks want? Obama is going to bankrupt the taxpayer with all of his socialist agenda items.

So….? What’s the problem? Creation and administration of the website is giving tech workers jobs. Get over it, naysayers!
Posted by: bob10001 | Jul 8, 2009 11:50:05 PM
You’re a real genius. That’s not $18M in private sector money. That’s yet more government jobs being “created” by stealing our money.
How about I empty out your bank account and then use it to pay for a full time housekeeping staff at my house? Look! I just created a bunch of jobs!

All they know is how to spend! They can’t save one dollar!

Personally, I’d like to know the name and URL of the company that has been contracted.
See paragraph three in the very article to which these comments are attached for the name of the company. Plug that name into Google. It comes right up. The very first result is the company’s own website, and there are lots and lots of other hits as well.

Ok,consider this: Assuming there are 300 million tax paying citizens in the US, $18 million costs each citizen less than 1/15 of one dollar. That seven cents per person goes toward making the site much more streamlined and easier to use. You can get the information you want that much faster, so you can go back to your day. I guarantee that a majority of those commenting on this site make above average income, which means in the time it took you to read this article and respond, you will have wasted way more than seven cents at your hourly rate.

If you make 20K as a web designer, find a new profession because you aren’t any good.
This cannot just be a “redesign”, this article has to be understating the process. I’m sure there is an entire back-end system being built to store, organize, and protect all this information. It probably also includes full time support by full time employees to keep this site running. This site is an investment in the future. Something that can be used for years to come.

Impeach Obama

$18 million? How ridiculous. My nephew does websites for free! How hard can a major government website be?

I guess you guys didn’t read the article… it has the name of the company that got the bid – Smartronix…. from Hollywood, MD.

Wow! I can hardly beleive that ABC would allow comments on this story. Will they be removed when it turns out most of them are anti-obama?

>So….? What’s the problem? Creation and administration of the website is giving tech workers jobs. Get over it, naysayers!
The problem is that Obama is destroying the economy.
That’s not “naysaying.” That’s OBJECTIVE REALITY.
Come join us and the rest of the new reality-based community here on the dark side. We have cookies.

@John Vacek
Actually as a project manager who has extensive experience in web apps. As a person who used to program in C and in html/java/flash I can tell you for sure that $18 mil is a ripoff price. Besides the place is already built, they are just modifying it.
@SamTyler1973
What places do you work at which you think a web design job pays 20k at best? I know web designers making 100k salaries – and that is not top of the totem pole. I have never heard of a web dork making 20k…30k is the lowest i have heard of
@anyone else
$18 mil is a ripoff – period.

Nicely done Pete, Vacation Bible School. That’s a smile

Just-as or more important than the stated cost is whether this will be a cost-plus contract, where the contractor can spend willy-nilly and be assured of compensation and profit? Or will they be held, like all other businesses, to deliver the product within the quoted budget?

Not to worry. Joe Biden is in charge, remember “don’t mess with Joe”. As soon as he remembers the name of the “address”, he will make sure the new web site is perfect. Remember this is all about a “three letter word JOBS”.

For all the whining about “but you haven’t created jobs in the 4 months since recovery plan started”, here jobs have been created and all we hear now is more complaining.
By the way, as a software engineer myself, the Republicans are INFAMOUS for having little to no technological capacity, crappy web sites, old technology implementation, and how can we Forget McCain’s not even knowing how to send or receive emails, etc. etc.
When the Republican/RtWing/Whiners stop whining and complaining and actually propose THEIR solution, maybe they won’t be ridiculed and dismissed as much as they are today. In the meantime, go ahead GOP’rs – keep whining and complaining and throwing dirt, you are doing a FINE job of burying your a permanently.
We gave you a rope and sure enough, you all are hanging yourselves. Good. “Enough is enough”.

Our spend happy government should remember the old adage “make do or do without”. The website is very functional as it is now. Times are very tough and it is an outrageous expense to pay $18 million for website *redesign* when kids are going to bed hungry at night. This is the problem with the politicians we have. They’re all wealthy and completely out of touch with reality.

For all the so-called experts here who are claiming they know it all.
To my knowledge this site has not had issues crashing or anything like that, so the REAL question is WHY modify it at all.
What is does need is better updating of data such as…ohhhh….Job Creation!!!
It does not need new bells & whistles at all. What is there is more than adequate to convey to the American people where their money is going and how much success or lack of success the expenditdures are having!

Why is $18M being spent to redesign a website that’s only been around for a few months?
Didn’t Recovery.gov 1.0 use “innovative and interactive technologies?” If not, why not? How much money was wasted there?
What inexperienced person authorized $18M to be spent on a website? Oh wait, we’re talking about the Obama administration! Do you know how many websites can be built with $18M in the private sector?
Great spin ABC News. The government is wasting more of our money and you’re making it sound like they’re doing us a favor.

I work for Smartronix :)

Just $18 million? Well, it’s just taxpayer money and there’s plenty more where that came from!
Pay up people – your government needs you to stop your greedy grumblings and pay up for the common good. If you are fortunate enough to earn money in this economy, you owe it to your country to share a portion of that money with others.

Smartronix is just up the road from the Patuxent Naval Air Test Center.
After all the base closings of the past couple of decades, it has become the center of the Navy’s full spectrum research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E), engineering, and fleet support center for air platforms.
There are a lot of companies in the area around the base that specialize in military systems including security based systems (like Smartronix).

Okay John Vacek:
8 FTE’s @ $60k (+20% benefits)= $720,000
Which leaves $780,000 a year to manage and maintain if that is actually included in the quote. The article specifically says “redesign”
And, if you read more closely, the $18M is on top of $9.5M so we’re talking closer to $30M through 2014. So now do the math: over 4.5 years the government will spend $27.5M to “redesign” a web site.
That’s 53 months, which makes the monthly cost $518867.00 and change.
So taking our salaries at $72k a year * 8 FTE’s at $6k a month that’s $48k for salaries, which leaves $470867.00 and change a month to operate and manage the site.
It’s still way way too much. and the salary I quote is higher than average which is pretty much the way gov’t pays, so, yes, they are out of touch with what things cost.
Go back and do your homework. This is just a waste of tax payer money. But it does create 8 stimulus jobs, so whew! we’re on our way to recovery.

who the hell are they kidding? I’ve been developing and managing web properties since their inception. It does not require $18M to redesign the web site, even with security, encryption, massive database installations and site management. Give me a friggin break. Wake the hell up.
@boob10001, jesus get real. You honestly think that money is going to tech workers? Can I sell you the bay bridge incomplete? people are getting fat while the rest of us are going lean. This administration is a big disappointment. Nothing ever changes.

And queue the extremist comments in 3…2…1.

FYC!!

$18M for a website redesign? Moronic!!!
We definitely need to kick them at every level of government. Start fresh with citizens who have common sense not ivy league educations.

Typo’s jeeze. Sorry bout that.

I can under cut that price. Pay me 2 million dollars and I will create a goverment web site with all the bells and whistles.

No bid contracts for politically connected shell corporations. Recover your vote. It was wasted.

are you all nuts?
it’s obviously an entirely new redesign in terms of infrastructure et al… not merely aesthetics…
it’s not an unreasonable cost at all

What company is doing it? Maybe I can apply as a data entry person for 1k a week salary

My apologies, a correction is in order.
The posting date of Gov Solicitation AVT0009100 was dated June 16, 2009;
TThe contract was awarded to Smartronix on July 7:
As a matter of note the soliciation’s project scope matrix specifically identifies all network conduits, and KM database programs (Oracle) remain the responsibility and under management of the goverment! This is nothing but a a searchable data filtering site with a GUI.

Who approved this complete waste of taxpayer money? Ought to be shot. Same person who bought the expensive hammers and toilets?
We want our money back, now.

eight FTEs over 5 years & “If you could do it for less, I suggest you bid the gig.” – John Vacek
Which would soon be followed by “What the heck is a ‘JAWS browser’ & Section 508?” and “What do you mean, I have to make the site function consistently for Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera and not just Internet Explorer?!”
Yes, blind, color blind and low vision people DO use the internet and all government sites are required by law to ensure that the information contained on the site is available to them as well.

One of my friend’s company is maintaining a site for US government, for $170,000 every year, the site actually is more like a page which contains a form.

Problem is, the site will likely NOT be created or staffed by federal employees (who by the way could do an excellent job for a FRACTION of the cost)…it will be a federal contractor. That is why it will cost $18 million. …$2.5 million for the server, $2 million for software, $7 million for salaries, $2 million for office supplies,…etc., etc.

Whose brilliant idea was this? That’s utterly ridiculous.

Maybe they should just call geeksquad.

Its amazing how the koolaid drinkers can even find a way to excuse this kind of waste! When will they wake up and see what this administration is doing? Bush was an idiot, and he is gonna look like an all star after these progressives get thru bankrupting our country. Obama is gonna add 8 to 10 trillion dollars to our debt, not counting Cap and Trade, and Health Care! We are goona be looking at a 20 trillion dollar debt if he gets 2 terms! Thats double what the crook Bush did, and theses idiots think Obama is fixing things! Maybe do some research b4 you vote complete powere to a group of anti American progressives! But your the kind of idiots that think its ok to sign a bill b4 reading too!
WAKE UP AMERICA!

how is the VALUE of this site equal to its cost? i’m all for transparency, but not when it has such a high price tag. how is this a priority right now?

This is getting unreal. Can we please come to the conclusion as a nation that the government only makes things worse? Please? Bush didn’t do a great job but at least he didn’t burden the next 100 years of Americans…

This article is incredibly misleading. Read the original RFP — this is not a website redesign, it’s the fee for building and running the site with 24/7 support for *years*. This includes collecting and collating data continually from a wide array of sources. $18 mil for *years* of 24/7 support, hosting, data et al is actually reasonable.

Sounds like a little Voters Remorse LOL
Hows that Hopey-Changey thing working for you?!

if this is a “redesign”, what was wrong with, or what happened to the original design?
Who did the original design? What do they say about the work being done AGAIN?

OK – this is old news, but it needs to be said. Technology is expensive people. This is not just “graphic design.” They are tying into backend systems which keep track of these numbers using databases, failover systems, blah blah blah. I have worked for companies that spent over a 100 million to implement ERP systems which tie into their organizations databases and link to websites for processing orders. This is no different. Add in staffing and boom – you would be surprised at how much this can cost. This is just spin – information taken out of context and presented with a slant that outrages those who have no background in it professionally.
At some point in these posts someone said a web designer gets paid like 20k. Where the hell is that? I have a staff of 5 and when you take in costs of benefits, salary, etc. You are looking AT A MINIMUM AN AVERAGE of 100k a person. You have back-end programmers, front-end programmers, designers, etc. Now through in redundent hardware, hosting costs, facility costs, etc.
The bottom line is, you just simply don’t get it. This stuff is expensive.

our goverment has totaly lost it.time for the american pepole to take back our goverment.and totaly change the people in congress.that the change we need.

$18M? Are their webservers running Mac OS?

I’d have taken $1M to post phony job creation numbers and fake districts!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what kind of idiot would grant a 18 million dollar contract for a web site.
it makes me sick.
what a bunch of idiots,idiots,idiots,idiots.
its mind blowing.
simple minded morons.
it doesn’t take many brains to see that contractor wanted to much money.
its just incredible how stupid these fools are in office.
they sit at a desk with other fools and tweak a contact to fare out of whack that no body wants to submit a bid for the contract and they end up with one contractor who bided.
what a bunch of dumb audgfdywf.

18 MILLION DOLLARS and the website doesn’t even work right. I am a web designer and even I think this figure is completely absurd. How is this website even making the government accountable if they are only posting expenditures AFTER they happen?? The first thing the gov’t needs to be accountable for is spending 18 million dollars on a website. If government acted like a competitive business instead of a spoiled rich brat, maybe excessive spending like this would stop happening.

18 million is a lot of money for redesign.how it get approved it a big question for me.

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Wow that is a lot of money! Imagine how many people could have gotten a medical treatment for it! I am not againts improving things but this seems like a total waste…