[nkassis]

"Things like: payroll, issue tracking, asset tracking, emergency services management, waste disposal, vehicle registration, fines management and payment - the list goes on and on and on."

Most of those on the list are things that the gov already buys off the shell software for (I have worked as a network administrator at a large state university in the past). Our payroll system was off the shelf from Oracle, asset tracking was part of that erp system, our course management system was the off the shelf blackboard, security access system was from another vendor. It was rare that a project would be 100% built in house.

Using payroll as an example, for the size of these organization, the off the shelf components you will find are usually built with the expectation that it will be customized anyway. (Not all organization in government work the same way for very good reason. Laws) They are incomplete in a lot of cases and require integration with various system. The above poster was right, the problem is often integration. How to I plug my directory services into my erp system that connects to system for another agency somewhere. You will have a hard time getting a unified system across all agencies when you go by a biding system that is anywhere close to fair.

The companies that play in that space Oracle/SAP/HP/Novell whatever are all built on the assumption that you will buy something and need their help with it for years to come.

The problem is huge I feel you are underestimating it.