Government is held to a standard no industry, company or CEO must meet.
Congress, the media and most Americans seem to unquestioningly accept the myth that when our government plans and budgets for projects – no matter how large, daunting or new – they should achieve them exactly as planned, with no errors and no adjustments, 100 percent of the time.
When companies, universities, philanthropies and citizens regroup and adjust or begin again, we accept their efforts as earnest and the adjustments as a normal part of life. But when government stumbles or determines it needs to adjust or takes a new path, we assume it’s due to waste, fraud, abuse or incompetence.
In fact, what government takes on is just really hard—Moon and Mars shots, fighting terrorists, eradicating poverty, responding to disasters, providing access to health care for all Americans.
Unlike our favorite companies, such as Apple, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Craigslist and many others, government is given no opportunity to change course, learn and adapt. It is captive in a zero-defect, reality-free zone of its own citizens’ making.
This column is the first in a series about three myths that hamper government’s ability to modernize its acquisition process. Keep reading this article at: http://www.govexec.com/contracting/2014/04/3-myths-cripple-acquisition/82792/
