The Garden of the Blind

I sometimes talk with a debator I know about the similarities and differences between the government (especially the Federal Government) and private industry. He points out a lot of similarities that people might not realize without being more familiar with both of them, but we also find some stark differences.

Perhaps the biggest difference can be found in how they go about acquisition of parts and services. In private industry, purchasing is done with an eye to minimizing costs. Sometimes this is directed at long-term costs, and sometimes it has a more immediate focus. Low quality is sometimes considered as a cost in this sense, and is therefore sought to be reduced.

In the government, purchasing is driven by a substantial document called the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and its descendants in each of the departments and agencies of the government (e.g. the Defense FAR, or DFAR). The FAR is not so much tailored to reduce costs as it is to maintain fairness. It directs a lot of contracts to go to small businesses, in an effort to make things more fair to them. It severely limits the amount of corroboration that can exist between buyers and vendors.

One end result is that if government buyers tried to minimize costs in the ways that a private sector buyer might, then they could go to jail for it.