Another example of the gov getting away with something that would have been career suicide in the private sector. If my IT team had had 3 years and half a billion dollars to roll out a system this big, and at H-hour had put up something that was not only just 30% done, but the 30% itself didn’t even come close to working the way it should have, I’d not only be on the street, but almost certainly blacklisted in the HR departments of every company I ever tried to apply to.
I spent around twelve years of my life with two contracting firms. One was successful, always mindful of deadlines, tracked each project and had regular reviews to ensure a successful schedule. That company was respect for turning the projects into reality.
The second company? They didn’t care. They never made deadlines a big deal. They got and lost contracts on a regular basis. They always underbid on the contracts and knew they were going to win only because of this attitude of “the cheapest”.
Personally, if any of these people with this particular project ever came to apply for work under me.....and I saw they were part of this failed effort, I would not hire them. I think the technicians were at fault as much as the planners, and the White House staff.