Two points: 1) Our government has a huge set of rules about procurement. Who's allowed to get their bid approved, the right kinds of projects, who's allowed to

Two points: 1) Our government has a huge set of rules about procurement. Who's allowed to get their bid approved, the right kinds of projects, who's allowed to manage them, who's allowed to set project requirements (different than the former), who's allowed to pay them, etc. In theory this is all really smart and awesome: you don't get someone giving their brother-in-law a swell multi-million dollar contract, physically impaired people can access your site, etc.* 2) Governments and campaigns face different incentives. Campaigns don't have many cross cutting concerns: the goal is to get a candidate elected. Sure, some high powered consultants are simultaneously angling for a new job after, but IT and most staff are relatively immune from that. Your job is to get something done, and you want to get somethng done. Government, though, has no such incentives: you can do shitty work and not face consequences, and the mission is inherently less aspirational and more shoveling shit. Much of the time government bureaucracies also double as a social welfare program, or a private welfare program if a well-connected corporation has a well-placed surrogate legislator or bureaucrat. *Reality, needless to say, can turn out a bit different.