[magduf]

With the way government contracts work, you'll almost never get really high-quality software that way. The contractor simply does not have any incentive to do so, as it isn't in the contract. Instead, the contract usually gives them the incentive to drag things out as long as possible and make sure development costs are as high as they can get away with; "cost plus" contracts are notorious for this.

[jaabe]

I’ve worked in the private sector though, things weren’t better there.