[SpelingBeeChamp]

> But then they’re a for-profit company, acting as a de-facto vendor for the state. So shouldn’t there be a contract for the work?

I assume that you are familiar with the contracts NARA has entered into with its "digitization partners"?

[Asparagirl]

Oh yes. The ones where the records are supposed to become public (instead of “exclusive”) five years later, but in practice have not been made public...