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22 Feb 2006

Procurement: sometimes we should just say “No”

The Invigilator John R Behrman writes in with a “classic case of sub-optimization” in government procurement: “trying to do
incrementally better that which should not be done at all”:

a) Procurement of direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines and
deployment of a “statewide voter role” (actually the same as your “National
Identity Card") here in Texas

I am the principal political opposition to this in Harris County, the third
largest voting jurisdiction in the U.S. This is not a disinterested or
unbiased role, but it is one in which I am intimately involved being, for
instance, the Primary Election Judge today.

b) Wouldn’t in be better if we (b.1) stuck to the original and simple
constitutional provisions for suffrage rather than hiding an elaborate
political agenda behind a superficial and superstitious characterization of
technology?

It turns out that “human error” in balloting—“spoiled ballots” as the
British say—is a small and nearly trivial problems save for a single
office-seeker now and again. But, attempts to get rid of human error turn
out to be expensive and lend themselves to very large-scale, compound and
cascade failure-modes. Actually, we are experiencing one at this moment.

c) I will collect two more perspectives on this very same matter from (c.1)
a “neutral” bureaucrat who will remain anonymous and (c.2) my partisan
counterpart from the other main party here.

• Posted by William Heath on 22/02/06 at 12:50pm
• Categories · Government Procurement
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