It ought to have come as little surprise to discover the federal government’s Healthcare.gov website was riddled with errors. Let’s be honest, the government has record that is downright dreadful with regards to high-tech projects.
A long history of failure
The Los Angeles Times recently featured the federal government’s long string of technology failures. Healthcare.gov is certainly getting the headlines today, but the Times story also takes a long look at SAM.gov. That website, operated by the federal government’s General Services Administration, had a laudable goal: to combine nine contracting databases into one simplified website. The problem? It didn’t work. First, the site launched two months behind schedule. Next, once it opened, it performed so poorly that the General Services Administration had to take it down again for repairs. There was even a flaw which could have exposed users’ sensitive information.
The rule
Unfortunately, SAM.gov and Healthcare.gov are definately not isolated examples. As the Los Angeles Times documents, government-run websites have a history of regular failures. In addition, the federal government often struggles to update outdated technology. And the U.S. Military is a huge tech offender: The military often invests millions of dollars into technology it then never uses.
An unending trend?
Especially disturbing is that the government is showing no signs of getting away from the new technology business. The Times story says that the federal government will have spent more than $76 billion on information technology products this year. And you can bet that many of these projects will suffer some serious troubles. The Times also pointed to a federal report saying that a massive 700 government tech projects are presently plagued with problems.