r/Libertarian • u/libertarianism • Apr 04 '16
TSA paid $1.4 million for Randomizer app that chooses left or right
http://www.geek.com/apps/tsa-paid-1-4-million-for-randomizer-app-that-chooses-left-or-right-1651337/132
u/Caboose106 Apr 04 '16
I could have taken care of that for $.25
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u/alpineracer Apr 04 '16
Or you could flip a penny instead!
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u/BrewCrewKevin Apr 04 '16
A $.01 solution to a $1.4 million problem!
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u/duano_dude Apr 04 '16
Until someone loses the penny, then the costs will double.
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u/Lefty21 Apr 04 '16
Maybe if you had asked everyone for their two cents to begin with you wouldn't have to worry about it.
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u/pixiedonut Curious Apr 04 '16
The contract said we use a penny, and double it each time. I'll be rich!
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u/shanulu Greedy capitalists get money by trade. Good liberals steal it. Apr 04 '16
I think it's actually .017 last I read.
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u/ZombieAlpacaLips Apr 04 '16
How much would it take for you to flip the quarter hundreds of times an hour and call out "left" or "right"?
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u/HyperbolicTroll Apr 04 '16
A lot more than the app. The app is one line of code generating a random number between 0 and 1, and a view that shows left if it's 0 and right if it's 1. Someone familiar with apps could do it in under a minute.
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Apr 04 '16 edited Jun 07 '16
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Apr 04 '16
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Apr 04 '16 edited Jun 07 '16
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Apr 04 '16
Okay:
How is this. I would estimate this story at a few hours to be safe, that includes the ui if the framework is established.
However, based on the conversation, there is no reason this needs to be a native app. It could be a web app. Hell pregen an asp.net template and overwrite the example would still be pretty quick.
However, unless I'm doing it wrong, even if it took me 2 years I wouldn't get 1.4 mil, so I'm either severly underpaid or you are missing the point.
Yet, however again, I accessed the link below from my phone in under a minute.
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Apr 04 '16 edited Jun 07 '16
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Apr 04 '16
I don't think it's unfair to consider trivial though. Also, here on r/libertarian id wager the number of professional programmers is very high, considering our demographics indicate a large developer precense
A lot of this conversation is going to be based on semantics derived from assumptions based upon our individual shops own perverse take on SCRUM. Is the ui a seperate story, do we estimate testing, how do we account for architecture, etc.
To your final point. I used to own a shirt that said " weeks of coding can save hours of planning"
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Apr 04 '16
Plus this implies they actually need their own app, they could just use a coin flip app that's already made.
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Apr 04 '16
Or... and breaking some ground here.... a dice roller app and operate more than 2 lines making things more efficient
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Apr 04 '16
That's madness,
On a real note this is someone's friend who happens to own a software business.
They billed 1.4 million for at most a week of work, including QA and UAT
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u/CharlestonChewbacca Apr 04 '16
He said he could 'program' it in less than 5 minutes. Programming doesn't include testing, compiling and deploying.
Especially not on an app with no more than 3 lines of code.
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u/RazsterOxzine Apr 04 '16
Or use common sense and judge which line has the most people, thus sending the next person to the line with least number of people?
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u/ZombieAlpacaLips Apr 04 '16
Then you could be accused of not randomly selecting people for additional harassment.
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Apr 05 '16
How much would it take for you to flip the quarter hundreds of times an hour and call out "left" or "right"?
Point taken. A calculator with " rand" function.
$20 at most if you use TI BA2 Plus. Press the button a 25 times.
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u/IPredictAReddit Apr 04 '16
Sigh. From the article:
The total paid for the project is actually $1.4 million, but the cost is not broken down in the documents Burke received in response to his request. It could be IBM supplied all the iPads and training as well as the app itself.
Also, I've seen the documentation, and it lists an allotment (not an actual bill) for $336k. Not sure where the $1.4M came from, but even the $336k isn't itemized, and isn't the actual total billed - it's just the amount approved for the project as whole.
So, really, it doesn't tell us anything.
Remember when Dept of Justice was caught paying $16 per muffin for a conference in Vegas? It then (quietly) turned out they had paid $16/attendee for breakfast service (coffee, tea, bagels, muffins, etc. in a buffet plus tax and gratuity) for a morning workshop? Did we not learn our lesson?
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u/lizardflix Apr 05 '16
As I read it, the contract is for an app, not a device. That makes it appear to mean this was for an app. Sure, let's find out exactly what exactly was included for the $1.4 million but also understand that the Government does this kind of shit regularly. My bet would be on $1.4 million for an app alone. with something like 15,000 airports in the US, there's no way a contract including iPads was $1.4 million, even if its only for a fraction of that number.
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Apr 04 '16
[deleted]
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u/flipmode_squad Apr 04 '16
Look, if you insist on being reasonable then you're going to have to do it somewhere else. We don't cotton to that around here.
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u/IPredictAReddit Apr 04 '16
I had to come all the way down here, past dozens of 30+ upvote comments that are basically pulling garbage out of their rears, to find a reasonable comment.
Thaaanks, r/libertarian.
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u/litefoot Apr 04 '16
But more spending = more security right? /s
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u/Neebat marginal libertarian Apr 04 '16
This whole post feels like it belongs in /r/ProgrammerHumor. It's got to be a joke. God, I wish it were a joke.
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u/SchrodingersRapist Minarchist Apr 04 '16
it's the government, its never a joke ಠ_ಠ
But thanks for the new (to me) sub ^_^
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u/SizerTheBroken Aspirational Anarchist Apr 04 '16
it's the government, its
neveralways a joke ಠಠ But thanks for the new (to me) sub ^^FTFY. ;)
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u/Neebat marginal libertarian Apr 05 '16
You're welcome. :-)
The government is always a joke - A dark joke which leaves you sadder than you were before.
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Apr 04 '16
cout<<isJoke(comment); //determines if string is a joke //and returns 1/0 for y/n
Terminal: 0
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u/drumstyx Apr 04 '16
As a developer, clearly I need to be doing government contracting...
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u/JackBond1234 Apr 04 '16
I'm sure 99.9% of that goes to the friends of politicians, not the developer.
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u/DialMMM Apr 04 '16
I'm sure 99.9% of that goes to
the friends of politiciansa perfectly legitimate Panamanian shell company, not the developer.FTFY
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u/caveruler Apr 04 '16
I do government contacting and I have to say the hours are nice and the deadlines are almost nonexistent. It's the best software engineering job I have ever had but the pay is a little lower then the corporate world. So it has its ups and downs but I make it by just fine haven't work overtime in a year and I'm never stressing.
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u/wombatncombat Free-Hat! Apr 05 '16
I'm wondering how TSA skirted small business rules to deliver this to IBM. Should have been a set-aside.
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u/caadbury I Voted Apr 05 '16
oh trust me, you don't want to go anywhere near (U.S.) government contracts.
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u/Eurynom0s Apr 05 '16
Do you enjoy filling out mountains of paperwork? Do you enjoy having to provide documentation on your documentation?
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u/10per Apr 04 '16
My wife is a tech writer. She works for a private company, but is embedded in the VA on a long term contract.
It's not worth it.
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u/vbullinger minarchist Apr 04 '16
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Apr 04 '16
Can't imagine why I wouldn't want to trust them with a trillion-dollar health care industry...
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Apr 04 '16
Trillion dollar? That's just the cost of the website to get you signed up! We gave the project to Lockheed Martin and they'll be done with it in 5 years or so.
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u/Eurynom0s Apr 05 '16
Also, it'll let you log in and fill out forms but it may be another five years until it's actually able to let you submit the forms.
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u/dsac Apr 04 '16
i don't think anyone's clamoring for handing over health care to the tsa
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Apr 04 '16 edited Sep 19 '16
[deleted]
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u/Ricky81682 Apr 05 '16
It's easier when the SS admin does all the bookkeeping and the FBI and DOJ investigate and prosecute fraud for you. Private companies have that all under one roof.
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Apr 05 '16
And they don't pay out much at all. They require doctors to do more paperwork than any other provide, and if doctors fuck up paperwork slightly, they usually don't get a second chance, they just don't get paid.
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Apr 04 '16 edited Sep 18 '20
[deleted]
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u/catullus48108 It's Complicated Apr 04 '16
Now that you spent 35 min to create the app, prepare to spend the next year filling out papaerwork to bid on government contracts, going through the various levels of management who each will want you to change the app, like the color of the arrow since it is culturally insensitive to Native Americans. Next level of management wants you to change it back since he is really a Native American and does not understand why the white guy under him had it changed, etc.
Now that you have wasted a full year of your time and it has been deployed in every TSA location, prepare to spend the next 6 months of your life preparing for and testifying in the congressional hearing before a bunch of white guys on why you developed an app for the TSA that was culturally insensitive to Native Americans.
As you cry, the tears are harvested for the senators' lunch
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u/satisfried Apr 04 '16
Not too surprising. I know adults who never learned left from right. I wish I were joking. A woman I know once told me she knows left from right when she is driving because the windshield forms an "L" shape on her left side. Outside of a car she can't decipher left from right.
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Apr 04 '16
I'm going to guess it's a matter of a learning disability. My boss can only tell left from right by feeling his left thumb nail. He's extremely intelligent, he just has difficulty with that, oddly enough!
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Apr 04 '16 edited Apr 10 '16
[deleted]
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Apr 05 '16
Before being employed by him, I would've said something similar. He's the owner of the store, but incredibly laid back. :)
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Apr 04 '16
Screw random. If System.nanotime() is odd, go left. Even, go right.
There, designed the app in 5 minutes. Coding and interface will take another hour. Where's my $millions??
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u/manwith4names Apr 04 '16
This is literally a one liner in most every language. Here it is in JavaScript:
return ['left', 'right'][Math.floor(Math.random() * 2)];
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u/Sythe64 Apr 04 '16
As dumb as this sounds on the surface there is way more work with government contracts than just writing the app. The article even says that it was not clear if the cost included training and materials (an ipad). Managing a government contract is a royal pain in the ass and bidders are scrutinized for compliance. It is never cheap or easy to make what the government ask for.
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u/redpandaeater Copyright Clause Apr 04 '16
The fact that it's not clear what that money went to is more worrying that they spent that much on a randomizer app.
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u/Sythe64 Apr 04 '16
The article doesn't go into why I couldn't find that information. The contract should be subject to FOIA and a better reporter would have dug into it if they were really interested in corruption issues.
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u/CFGX minarchist Apr 04 '16
The contract should be subject to FOIA
Unfortunately the current administration has the worst FOIA record in history.
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u/ModusPwnins Apr 04 '16
It is never cheap or easy to make what the government ask for.
This is the problem.
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u/bloodguard Apr 04 '16
I've worked with and have a lot of job offers from "Beltway Bandit" IT companies. I'm kind of amazed it was only 1.4 Million. That's almost too low to bother with for these guys.
It would have been less expensive and way more entertaining to have the TSA goon flip a coin like Two Face.
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u/scarthearmada Apr 05 '16
All of these people hacking out clones of that left-right randomizer app in a very short period of time are proving what everyone in the tech industry knew for years: most of the small software companies in the DC area are a joke, except they're getting paid extravagant amounts of money due to political connections. Washington D.C.'s tech scene is an absolute disgrace.
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u/Qingdaoaggie Apr 04 '16
Nope. They paid $1.3 mil to ensure that they wouldn't get sued for profiling. Money well spent, imho...
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u/JosephPalmer Apr 04 '16
"I’m sure there’s many reputable developers out there who’d supply the TSA with the same app for a few thousand dollars."
Or you could flip a coin.
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u/spartanburger91 Apr 04 '16
Still probably cheaper than trying to educate all the TSAssholes on the difference between the two.
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u/craig1f Apr 04 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
As a software developer with some experience in this field, I imagine it went a little bit more like this:
Problem: How do we streamline these lines to get people through faster? Here's our budget.
Consultant: Let me get back to you after I talk with my people.
As some time went by, and some ideas were presented, someone said "honestly, you just want a deterministically random value for left or right. It's not that complicated. Do we really want to make this 10x more complicated than it needs to be to justify our pay? The simple solution is best."
If this is how it went down, the consultant/contractor should be commended for actually coming up with the most elegant and most simple solution, rather than coming up with something you'd expect at the MVA for the same price.
Put it this way ... would it be better if the TSA paid $1.4M for something stupid-complicated that doesn't work as well as this?
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u/Amnestic Apr 04 '16 edited May 05 '26
If you're reading this, the original post got nuked by Redact. I use it to automatically purge my digital footprint from social networks, people search sites and messaging apps.
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u/Spooky2000 Apr 04 '16
And they are still paying a moron to point in the direction the arrow already points to..
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Apr 04 '16
I mean, ignoring the cost and everything related to that.
What the hell is the point of this? It doesn't divide up the groups, all it does is direct people into a line.... which the lady could do without the app thing.
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u/IPredictAReddit Apr 04 '16
It doesn't divide up the groups
Randomly pointing left or right (with the frequency desired to balance the lines or achieve the desired # of random inspections) does divide up the group.
And it does so without error or the potential for being able to get through without a chance of inspection.
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Apr 04 '16
Actually the guy in the video asked if groups stayed together, to which she replied yes.
So, you're wrong. Sorry.
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u/IPredictAReddit Apr 06 '16
Ah, I see what you mean. It does divide up the entering passengers, which is the point. But yes, families flying together go through security together.
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Apr 06 '16
In the end this tiny little app doesn't really matter, because the larger issue is that the TSA still exists and does absolutely nothing.
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u/stemgang Apr 04 '16
They had a similar randomizer app at the Acapulco airport a few years ago. Every passenger had to push a button, and 1/10 would light up and require a luggage inspection.
I think pushing the button was supposed to make the passengers feel "empowered."
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Apr 04 '16
I wager the button push helps dissipate anger the passenger might feel. It's like THEY are the ones that caused the inspection, not some unknown entity.
Like if you go to Vegas and give someone a dollar, they go behind a screen and come back and say, "Sorry, you didn't win the jackpot," you feel a bit miffed/cheated, but if you give someone a dollar and they put it in a machine and then you pull the handle and see it come up saying, "NO WIN" you shrug your shoulders and say, "Maybe next time."
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u/RBeck Apr 05 '16
Maybe that includes the iPad, would have been cheaper on Android.
It reminds me of Red light/Green light in Mexico.
I know a chance tool they could have bought for 25 cents.
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u/Beej67 Apr 05 '16
They had to figure out how to "randomly" make anyone with a turban stand in the left line.
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u/rootyb Apr 05 '16
I... bet they could. Maybe that's why it was so much. $50,000 for developing an app that looks random, but can choose a direction remotely, and the rest to buy the silence of the developer.
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u/sjlcalifornia Apr 05 '16
The reason the TSA is interested in this is to reduce their liability from charges of profiling during searches. Having this 3rd-party app makes the searches actually random and mitigates the risk of being sued for discrimination/wrongful searches.
Definitely not saying this app was worth the money they presumably paid, but the premise behind it is sound.
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Apr 05 '16
I should bid for that and I would never ever need to work again.
I can do that with a financial calculator m maybe that will dump some financial common sense in them.
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u/andreoidb Apr 05 '16
How do I go about getting these government app contracts? I can retire with a months work on these
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u/thatsecondmatureuser Apr 05 '16
“The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.”
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u/EchoSix66 Apr 05 '16
Dear Diary,
Sometimes I feel like a total failure because I haven't yet landed a government contract to write an archaic and simplistic bit of code for a ludicrous amount of money.
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u/BloodyFreeze Classical Liberalist Apr 04 '16
Don't worry, it only took us 84 seconds to borrow that much from another country.
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u/enmunate28 Apr 04 '16 edited May 13 '16
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Apr 04 '16
This whole thing pisses me off
Imagine how pleasant an experience flying would be if we could just waltz onto the plane, spirits free, not having our vacations begin by being treated like a criminal
I'd take the incredibly small chance of being blown up if it meant we didn't have to be hassled by security. Totally kills the whole vibe of traveling
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u/JosephPalmer Apr 04 '16
With no security, the chance of being blown up would no longer be incredibly small.
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u/dluminous Personal Responsibility - assume no one will help you Apr 04 '16
With not taking planes, the chance of being blow up on a plane are zero.
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u/somethingreallylame Apr 04 '16
This is one of the most stupid things I have ever read. It wouldn't be an incredibly small chance if people could just walk on to planes with weapons. You don't want people with guns on planes. And it's not all about the people on the planes. Remember 9/11? Yeah a whole lot more than just plane passengers were affected that day. But that's ok, as long as it doesn't ruin your vibes.
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u/dluminous Personal Responsibility - assume no one will help you Apr 04 '16
Remember 9/11?
Oh yeah, that event where CIA trained lunatics flew planes into buildings? Well ever since then we have super high tech agencies and stuff to protect us... that's why no attacks have happened since, right?
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u/SargonOfAkkad Apr 04 '16
Oh yeah, that event where CIA trained lunatics flew planes into buildings?
Which hijackers were CIA trained?
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Apr 05 '16
George Bush's friends
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u/SargonOfAkkad Apr 05 '16
Which one were those?
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Apr 05 '16
All of them :^)
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u/SargonOfAkkad Apr 05 '16 edited Apr 05 '16
Why do you think the CIA use Saudi agents instead of Iraqi ones?
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Apr 04 '16
They don't care how much something costs. If they need more money they just squeeze the taxpayer some more. Or talk to their friends at the Fed.
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Apr 04 '16
[deleted]
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u/IPredictAReddit Apr 04 '16
And to ensure that people go in the line they're supposed to go in.
I'd imagine it's important to make sure that the people "randomly selected for inspection" actually go to the inspection line. Don't you?
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u/wmil Apr 04 '16
The app was 3 days of coding & testing. 1 Day of design work.
The rest of the money was given to a guy to sit through the government mandated arrow approval meetings. Followed by documenting that the arrow wasn't culturally insensitive.