4 ms·
> Public bodies rushing to accept contracts thinking that suppliers have their best interests in mind is horribly naive. "Public bodies" do not rush ... People
by nanis 4y ago
> Public bodies rushing to accept contracts thinking that suppliers have their best interests in mind is horribly naive.
"Public bodies" do not rush ... People who work there do. Those people really do not have that much of an incentive to be careful. They do not really bear the costs of their decision. They are also people, susceptible to having their decision influenced by whatever small or not so small immediate benefit they can derive regardless of the ultimate cost to the people who actually pay for the consequences of their decisions. And, this is before one brings in the possibility of corrupt collusion between the people who spend other people's money and people who receive it.
- tbran 4y agoToo balance this perspective, let's remember that not all public workers are bad people. Many of them are also underfunded and understaffed, and don't have the lawyers and means of a rich corporation. The GP's "hoodwinked" was apropos.
- willcipriano 4y agoDoes any government agency claim to be funded correctly?
- tbran 4y agoThere was an article here on HN some time ago about some enormous project in California (a bridge? a tunnel?). IIRC the state's engineering department was quite small and underfunded, and so they depended on the contracted company for their engineering expertise. This did not go well. As I recall, the problems were that the state engineers were not experienced enough (because private pays better and seniors leave) and there weren't enough of them. For the life of me, I can't remember what the project was, but maybe someone else here does. How about small towns entering into agreements with big box stores where they are simply unmatched and "hoodwinked" into accepting arrangements that aren't favorable. [0] Presumably, towns could make better contacts with better legal resources. Do you have a better solution to this problem or should we just let the corps run our lives? [0]: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/11/3/big-box-stores-are-costing-our-cities-far-more-than-we-ever-imagined https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/11/3/big-box-stores...
- willcipriano 4y agoIt's just highly suspicious that every criticism of government ends up at "You don't pay us enough money" especially in the United States. It's never incompetence, corruption or malfeasance, the solution is always hiring more of the people who made the mess in the first place and paying the existing ones more.
- tbran 4y agoAlternatively, there is room for "incompetence, corruption or malfeasance" AND being underfunded or understaffed. I don't think there are any absolutes here.
- aequitas 4y agoI remember this story to. Probably from a YouTube channel. My first guess would be this one[0] but I can’t find it. [0] https://m.youtube.com/@PracticalEngineeringChannel/videos https://m.youtube.com/@PracticalEngineeringChannel/videos
- jholman 4y agoI think you're looking for this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxqVC_tBdc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxqVC_tBdc Note, however, that the state, in this story, that has underfunding problems and cannot figure out how to adequately supervise the civil engineering contracts is not California, it's Texas. Y'know, for all those who like to take sides on California vs Texas.
- Volundr 4y agohttps://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/army-thanks-but-no-tanks-090719 https://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/army-thanks-but-no-ta...
- nanis 4y ago> Too balance this perspective, let's remember that not all public workers are bad people. "This perspective" said nothing about "public" workers being bad and only referred to the implications of the incentives they have at scale.
- pxmpxm 4y agoOPM culture