Recovery 2.0

ABC News, the official press agency of the White House, has a story that the government is spending $18 Million of the "stimulus" money towards revamping the White House's stimulus money tracking website. The very same one that Joe Biden couldn't remember the "number" for.

The new one has been termed, "Recovery.gov 2.0". So the first question that all taxpayers should have is what was so wrong with the first incarnation that we need a major revision to the tune of $18 Million? That kind of money goes a very long way in website development and hosting, even for the federal government. Trust me, I've been around that kind of business. For this kind of coin, this website better tell me down to the penny where the money went, how it was decided to go there (i.e. an open competition or directed action because the contractor is pals with someone), and what's the progress against the schedule for the project awarded funding. Plus, I need it to pick my fantasy football team, determine the best route to work during rush hour and pick up my dry cleaning. Do we need more proof that the "stimulus package" is a farce? If the website is built with any intelligence, it's a build and deliver and done, so there are very few, if any, lasting jobs created by this $18 Million.

I'll reserve final judgment on the website until October 10th when it must be live. You can be sure that I'll be checking it out and reporting on it. The government has already committed to exposing the raw data to the public so you can be sure that the Gormogon Supercomputer processing center located in a fortified bunker at an undisclosed location (yes, Joe Biden doesn't know that "number" either) will be churning on the numbers.

Just to leave you with a thought: the contract is for $9.5M through January 2010. Let's assume that's a 6 month period of performance with a nominal 160 hours per month (four 40-hour work weeks). That equates to almost $10,000 per HOUR for this website. I fear that we'll end up getting some piece of crap like "Lawnmower Man".