>From my point of view, a developer once employed by the Government, the situation is extremely instructive.
>
>Here you have everything:
>
>- massive system being in development for at least five years
>
>- consulting company being blamed for inflated cost of the software development, training and support
>
>- users complaining that the system "is confusing and takes hours to make even the smallest adjustments"
>
>- an outside computer expert saying "It sounds even to me like it should be very easy" about the functionality failed to be delivered
>
>- consulting company trying to explain that any changes on that massive system with 800+ business rules require thorough testing
>
>- a fierce clash between two political parties on who's responsible
>
>and so on, and so on...


There is also the situation where the government really doesn't want the work done but needs to make it appear that they do. Happens when government spending/budgets are involved in high level politically motivated departments (my experience was with the EPA which has regionally 'president appointed' directors AND a central 'president appointed' director - all of whom view themselves as equals). Contracts are doled out to update the ancient systems but at least once a year the contractors are 'switched' because the last one wasn't 'getting the job done' when in reality they just want to keep 'ready access' to the 'real' numbers - and thus 'real' accountability - a distant dream. And, of course, it then becomes a huge mess for the contractor coming in to try to take over midstream - so it usually means starting over from scratch. And, of course, they get replaced for not solving the problems too. And so on... It's an old political story - the blame game. (Remember that US presidential candidate - the funny lookin Texan with the big ears - Ross Perot, and how he was scoffed at by all the other politicians for suggesting the government implement 'modern financial software' across the board?) They really don't want anyone knowing where the money goes. It's not in their political best interests...

On the other hand, my experience in the military sector was totally different. They actually wanted the job done. And were willing to spend any amount of the taxpayers money to get it done. And didn't care who knew how much they were spending. Go figure...