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 $1.4 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 $100 per hour, meaning the TSA overpaid by around $1,399,990.




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 itemized. Another site speculated that some of that $1.4 million might have gone towards hardware and training. What we do know is that at least $336,000 of the money went into the development of an app that does nothing but show an arrow pointing in one of two directions.

Update 4/5/16 5:00pm: While the price tag on the entire effort remains $1.4 million according to the FOIA received by Burke, the TSA claims the Randomizer app only cost $47,400.