The TSA Randomizer iPad app has two jobs: 1) point left or right, and 2) do it randomly. It’s an app a novice coder would write. And it cost the TSA $US1.4 million.
In the video below Android developer Chris Pacia takes a crack at building the Randomizer himself, and gets the whole thing done in just over ten minutes. Pacia notes that his usual rate for app development is $US100 per hour, meaning the TSA overpaid by around $US1,399,990.
Kevin Burke, who initially filed a FOIA to learn more about the Randomizer, wrote in a blog post that expenses for the project were not itemised. Another site speculated that some of that $US1.4 million might have gone towards hardware and training. What we do know is that at least $US336,000 of the money went into the development of an app that does nothing but show an arrow pointing in one of two directions.