The big problem I believe is that today's conventional wisdom is that the private sector can always do anything better than the government. There are some things that the private sector can do well but it requires competition and many of the things now being outsourced to the private sector have no competition. Concessions in the national parks are a good example. The vendor can charge whatever they want and perform poorly but there are no other options so they stay in place until the end of the contract. The problem with many government run programs is that there is no oversight and poorly written and/or managed contracts. Locally we have had city managers, school administrators, mayors etc where performance of duties was either extremely poor or even criminal and there does not seem to be any way to get rid of them except to pay off the contract or let them do nothing until the contract ends. Contracts, both public or private need performance clauses which allow for dismissal for poor performance.