Re: competition (was: Level 3 blames Internet slowdowns on Technica)

[Wayne E Bouchard <web () typo org>]

> The impact of competition was extensively questioned and researched
> with respect to U.S. Government contracting rules in the early '80s.
> This led to the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984. Since then
> there's been the routine grumble about the lowest quality bidder and
> the periodic scandal involving a no-bid contract but no serious
> question about whether competition reduces cost and improves options.
> Unless the data starts to suggest otherwise, it's basically a settled
> matter.

And that, of course, is that the government doesn't have to care about
profit and loss nor quality of workmanship. If they don't like it,
they just throw more money at it. A private entity, on the other hand,
may cease to be a going concern if they don't weigh carefully who does
work for them and how it is done. They also learn very quickly that
lowest cost is not necessarily lowest cost because of the problem of
compensating for shoddy work. Government doesn't have to learn this
lesson, especially when palms are getting greased and spoils are being
distributed.

-Wayne

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Wayne Bouchard
web () typo org
Network Dude
http://www.typo.org/~web/