A new study comparing the costs of federal government contracts given to private contractors and those done by federal employees shows that in the majority of cases, the government paid more to the private contractor. The study showed that on average, the costs of private contractors were double those of federal employees. The study comes after criticisms of federal employee pay, and plans to cut federal jobs. Critics of those measures have said that just looking at pay does not truly measure the costs. The government spends about $320 billion on contracts for different services.
See "Government Pays More in Contracts, Study Finds", Ron Nixon, The New York Times, September 13, 2011