Really? I get the first post? 
Having spent a career involved in finance at a senior level in all sizes of firms from 100 million in sales to organization that have sales in the billions, I can tell you this outcome is pretty much the norm. This mess in the federal payroll system is big as the numbers are huge but the general theme is the same. Who is to blame? Pretty much everyone as the fault is shared among the  greed on the part of the Government to wring out unreasonable savings starting day one, the consultants greed for a juicy long running consulting contract where the emphasis is profit not service. To the tech types that produce incomplete "buggy" software. To the Government managers who underestimate at best or at worst aren't competent to undertake such a large project. To the people who picked the system on the basis of " an amazing presentation" by the software firm. Note these same decision makers likely set out an unreasonable time line and failed to staff up.