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Thanks to epic problems with HealthCare.gov's rollout, the federal government's out-of-date technology processes have gotten more attention than most of us could have expected. The main doorway for millions of Americans to get health insurance was unusable for two months, but that screw-up is just one in a long line of government IT failures. In the flood of embarrassing government tech anecdotes that have come out since, we've learned a key federal agency still relies on floppy disks.

The problems put procurement — government's process of acquiring technology work and software — at the center of public conversation, press coverage and even a meeting between the president and the nation's top tech CEOs. After all, we're talking about hundreds of millions of public dollars being spent on projects that get scrapped. The New York Times lists some notable recent failures and their price tags:

"The Air Force last year scrapped a $1 billion supply management system. Officials abandoned a new F.B.I. system after spending $170 million on it. And a $438 million air traffic control systems update, a critical part of a $45 billion nationwide upgrade that is years behind schedule, is expected to go at least $270 million over budget."