Can We Radically Improve Service Contract Management

The government spends more than $500 billion each year on contracts — an enormous sum. So deriving savings from better contracting practices is an obvious target for deficit-cutting efforts. Like the businessmen two centuries ago who dreamed about how rich they would be if they could sell only one of their products to each person in China, it is tempting to make a statement such as, “If we could save only 5 percent from better contracting, that would cut $25 billion from the deficit.”