You Won’t Believe How Much The TSA Paid For Their Randomizer iPad App

It’s always a bummer when we hear about the ridiculous amounts of money that the government pays for the regular things that you and I would pay just a few bucks for.  And the latest example will really bum you out.

If you travel a decent amount and go through the TSA pre-check line, you’re probably familiar with the iPad that is held by a TSA agent that randomly determines what line you walk through.  The agent presses the button and the app selects left or right.  Again, it’s completely random.  This app doesn’t have any of your information.  It’s essentially a button that generates a left or right arrow.

Now, we’re in no way techy and have no clue what goes into building apps.  But people that are in the know on that sort of thing say that this type of app is one of the first projects that young coders first learn how to create.  Essentially, it’s simple to do.  So when you find out that the TSA paid $1.4 million for this app from IBM, that’s pretty ridiculous.

That figure is a little skewed, as technically they paid $336,413.59 for the app itself, but the total cost of the project came in at $1.4 million.  The report from Geek.com indicates that the figure may include the actual iPads as well, but still…$336,413.59 for the most basic app ever is just plane insane!

Source: Geek.com