Obama Plans to Make Government Contracts More Competitive and Transparent

This type of rhetoric has come down from previous presidents, so it's really not worth discussing until we see if it is going to have any real impact. But the idea behind the rhetoric is sound and one that is often overlooked by the media and the American public at large. Vast sums of U.S. taxpayer dollars are wasted each year because the government process of procuring goods and services from private companies is fraught with incredible waste and corruption.

Government tends to want to outsource practically every task that it performs and every "service" that it provides. This is largely true because government employees are largely not held accountable for personal productivity in the workplace. There are rarely consequences to projects not being completed on time and the nature of many government services are ongoing, so as long as "work" is being performed, it's difficult to quantify how much or how little should be done.

As a result, the government sends out billions every year to private contractors who are happy to charge the government exorbitant fees for their services. These contractors pay their employees well and still have enough mark-up left over to make huge profits. The contractual nature of their government engagements makes these companies successful for long stretches without ever having to bid again to provide services that may not be among their core competencies. In general, more competition will be beneficial to this process, but there is so much wrong with it so many benefiting from the current structure that real change is difficult to imagine.

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