Does military outsourcing in fact save taxpayers money?
Singer: The stunning thing in this whole discussion is that we’ve carried out so much outsourcing — the U.S. military since 1994 has outsourced about 3,000 different contracts to the private military industry — however, we have still not proven comprehensive cost savings. There were never sufficient studies made before we jumped onto the trend and there still hasn’t been enough tracking. Outsourcing in theory holds out the possibility of saving money. Having good competition allows you to get the best price, being able to utilize the services only when you need them — that’s why people think the private market can be more efficient. But we know the theory has not been borne out in reality. On the contracting end, usually there has not been sufficient competition. The contracts often get awarded to politically connected firms. We haven’t had the kind of oversight necessary to make sure we’re getting the best bargain as we go along. We also have found that we end up paying the employe
