The Limitations of Applying Private-Sector Models to Federal Operations

Controlling labor costs is one area of private-sector best practices that doesn't translate well into federal management. The priorities are different.

Total quality initiatives in the early 1990s, Vice President Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government, and President G.W. Bush's President's Management Agenda each attempted to incorporate private-sector management best practices into federal operations. Now President Obama and Congress see a bloated federal bureauc