South African Free State Province Government pay 140 million for basic WordPress site?

[CM30]

And I don't mean a highly edited WordPress site with a custom theme or coding work either, I mean for a basic WordPress install running a $40 theme you can buy off a WordPress theme shop site.

No seriously:

http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/71740-r140-million-website-more-startling-revelations.html

Is this literally the best example ever of why you should research any web design company you go with? This wasn't even a site that should have taken a week to design (the only changes from the pre made theme the company bought were aesthetic and could have been rather quickly), it was literally like charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for a pre made forum skin.

What do you think of this story? Is it an outrage that the equivalent of 15 million dollars of tax payer money was spent on a poorly edited WordPress theme and free software?

 

[Brandon]

It looks like I need to target some new clients.

 

[maksim]

Was it a bit much? Perhaps... but who cares.

At the end of the day, people pay for a service and results. They got a website. Who cares if it used a theme or not.

Or are we to say that every design has to be completely from scratch?

 

[CM30]

No it doesn't have to be from scratch. Indeed, if this was a reasonable price, it'd be decent service.

But they're charging for something many web designers could do for maybe a few hundred at best and trying to sell it for a marked up price in the millions. For what you get, this is basically like buying vBulletin 5 for half a million dollars.

 

[maksim]

No it doesn't have to be from scratch. Indeed, if this was a reasonable price, it'd be decent service.

But they're charging for something many web designers could do for maybe a few hundred at best and trying to sell it for a marked up price in the millions. For what you get, this is basically like buying vBulletin 5 for half a million dollars.

Every try to find an umbrella in NYC doing a heavy shower? What's the price? You don't care how much it is.

It's the government...

The market price is whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

Would I? Absolutely not... knowing I have resources to do the same.... however we only scream too much because we can do it ourselves. Show that website to a regular person, and they will be pretty impressed.

 

[CM30]

I think the South African population disagree with the 'impressed' comment. Many of them are saying it's a huge waste of their tax money and calling the government corrupt because of it.

And while the market price technically is what someone is willing to pay, look at it this way:

Would you consider it right to wilfully overcharge someone by a few hundred thousand percent for work that should have cost a fraction of that price? I hope not.

 

[maksim]

I think the South African population disagree with the 'impressed' comment. Many of them are saying it's a huge waste of their tax money and calling the government corrupt because of it.

And while the market price technically is what someone is willing to pay, look at it this way:

Would you consider it right to wilfully overcharge someone by a few hundred thousand percent for work that should have cost a fraction of that price? I hope not.

Have you looked at the US government? $100k for Obama's dog sitter yet a Navy Seal gets half of that.

find me an article in a regular South African mainstream newspaper. The vast majority of the people will not care. People who develop websites and other geeks care.

Every government has waste... and a crap ton of it... and a crap ton of corruption. That is the government.

 

[Dan Hutter]

Overcharging people for simple services is one of my pet peeves. We have a local computer shop who's technicans simply run the free version of CCleaner, charge $50, and call it a Computer Tune Up. Urgh!