Probably not a very different price, and the end result might not be much better. Bespoke enterprise software is notoriously expensive, and the end results are often not good. Lots of reasons, many the same as with government: client has very particular needs, client has unclear specifications that are changed several times during the process, competition for the bid is weak, client doesn't have their internal shit together, client's existing systems that the new stuff must integrate with are poorly designed and/or bitrotting and/or broken, client's management/billing/procedures are so bureaucratic that you have to include some cost in the bid just to pay for that, etc.
I haven't done anything in that area myself, but from what I hear second-hand it's a gravy train once you've made a sale to a Fortune500 company. Sales is hard, but once you've made the sale, you can bill millions for years for all sorts of reasons, some of which are even legitimate (given what they're asking you to do).
That's what it should cost. But I have seen large companies blow similar amounts of money on even less useful systems. And heard enough stories from friends to know that such fuckups are common in the corporate world.
I agree that makes it worse, but if indeed it'd cost similar at a large private company, it's not clear how we'd expect the government to do better. If the private sector can't manage to bring down costs on enterprise software, why would the government be able to get a better deal than they could?
I would be interested in how software for large organizations, public or private, could suck less. A handful of startups have attempted to disrupt enterprise markets, but the going seems tough.
That may depend on whether that large private corporation is already running the US Census.
Hopefully that day will never come, it is enough that corporations are running the prisons.
I would also like to know how much said private corporation would charge. (But I don't have to wonder very much, because companies like Elsevier and Lexis/Nexis give a pretty good idea)
I haven't done anything in that area myself, but from what I hear second-hand it's a gravy train once you've made a sale to a Fortune500 company. Sales is hard, but once you've made the sale, you can bill millions for years for all sorts of reasons, some of which are even legitimate (given what they're asking you to do).