When the government, or anyone for that matter, spends $100 billion annually on information technology, you’d expect transformative results.

Instead, we get a masterclass in institutional capture. It’s clear the federal government is serving the best interests of massive software companies, not taxpayers or federal workers.

Instead, the federal IT landscape resembles a graveyard of ambitious projects.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ electronic health records modernization project has consumed $16 billion with projections reaching $50 billion. Yet, basic functions like appointment scheduling remain broken. The Pentagon abandoned multiple HR system overhauls after spending hundreds of millions of dollars and waiting over a decade.

The Department of Homeland Security has been “modernizing” its HR infrastructure for 20 years.

These failures reward systematic entrenchment, complexity and vendor relationships at the expense of innovation, functionality and public service.

In other words, technology companies are eager to........

© The Daily Signal