A group of eight IRS employees led by Jian Wang developed a method for extracting logic from assembly code to convert it into a modern language.
They managed to convert 90% of the IRS's Individual Master File code to Java.
Until...
federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-comm…
Wang held one of 40 slots under which the IRS could pay temporary, full-time employees higher than GS rates—an authority Congress chose not to renew in 2013.
Before Treasury approved his GS-15, Wang had a new job.
federalnewsnetwork.com/tom-temin-comm…
Without Wang, that didn't happen.
For his work, Wang's was awarded this patent in Oct 2018: patentswarm.com/patents/US1044…
It would've been implemented in 2019 if the key personnel were retained.
Now 2/3 of the patents lay abandoned.