Building is relatively the easy part. Deciding what to build...that's where resources burn.
Maybe the gov did overpay. But it's silly for a "cover band" to play (e.g.) "Satisfaction" and then say anyone can be The Rolling Stones. That Mick & Co are an over-compensated commodity.
"Tell me you have never worked on a government contract without telling me you've never worked on a government contract" might be a good summary.
Do the hackathon participants have security clearances? That would be the first in a massive list of things that make projects like this cost way more than what you would pay a kid to make for you on the weekend.
The proven rule of thumb:
The first 80% of the work takes 20% of the time / resources.
The remaining 20% of the work sucks up 80% of the time / resources.
The latter? The Devil is in the details.
Lets half that 27 million..
Wage for a UX expert ~ 200k/year
Wage for a rails (or elixir or python) dev ~ 200k/year
Wage for a Data person (AI stuff) ~ 200k/year
Let's half the 27 again.. 13 million. OR => 65 full time staff to build an app.
I agree, it is harder to design something. But at 1/4 the cost one could hire 30 UX experts and 30 devs.. I mean come on.. Really?
Regarding security.. they could have daily PEN testing by a dozen companies and the cost wouldn't be close.
Come to think of it, add liability insurance as well.
Company owner: 5M Company owners wife: 5M …
people definitely made out with a hefty payday.