Throwback Thursday: In 1982, Social Security Admin. Duplicates Work
In 1982, the Social Security Administration spent $6.7 million – over $20 million in 2023 dollars – paying consultants to plan to move a computer center, a project that had already been successfully completed internally.
Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, awarded the Social Security Administration his Golden Fleece Award for this duplicative and wasteful project.
It all started with the Social Security Administration’s plan to move to a new computer center. Eleven members of the administration’s staff had thoroughly planned the move, with each member of the team having “the expressed capability to prepare comprehensive move plans.” This team’s task was “independently assuming full control and directly coordinating all activities” relating to the move.
Unfortunately, agency officials became worried that they would be blamed if the project failed. To insulate themselves from criticism, they hired teams of independent consultants to review the plans.
First, a team was hired for about $100,000 for six months to independently evaluate the project. Then, the same team was awarded another contract for “progress reviews” and to assess “relocation implementation planning,” and cost $650,000, almost double what it was initially expected to cost.
After two contracts, management decided they wanted a second opinion, so they hired another consultant to “provide the detailed planning” for the move, which cost a whopping $5.9 million, more than four times what it was initially expected to cost.
The practice of hiring consultants to insulate agencies from blame for projects gone wrong is a common and wasteful practice that continues to this day, but its far more egregious to do so after already dedicating resources to a project, only for the same work to be redone by expensive consultants.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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