Facepalm: The inefficiency of the government strikes again as officials in Kansas have essentially blown millions in taxpayer dollars on a failed IT project. The hope is that something useful can be done with the unused hardware before Father Time renders it obsolete.

Kansas officials are looking to offload nearly $10 million in unused computer hardware after the state decided to go in a different direction to fulfill its IT needs.

The state purchased the hardware in 2016 in hopes of building a centralized storage system. Before the project could get off the ground, however, IT officials canceled the endeavor due to cost concerns and contracted with a third party for storage needs. The hardware has been sitting unused at the Docking State Office Building in Topeka ever since.

According to the Topeka Capital-Journal, the state allocated $17 million for the project before bailing. The publication notes that there’s about $2 million still owed on the project.

The state administration is attempting to negotiate with a university to either donate or sell the hardware at a steep discount.

Even if the state can only get pennies on the dollar for the hardware, it’d be better to do so and recoup some of its losses than to let the gear go unused until it becomes fully obsolete. Kansas has attempted to offload the hardware before but was unable to attract any bidders.

Either way, perhaps it’ll serve as a learning lesson. Sen. Caryn Tyson, R-Parker, said, “We keep changing our IT philosophy as a state. Knee-jerk reactions. We need an overall picture to understand the direction the state needs to go.”

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