Public servants are people as are private citizens. Both are equally flawed as people and make the same mistakes. Public servants are not a super human race, I had to try and work with some stooped (stupid) public servants.

For contractors a lot of time is lost managing upwards and feeding the reporting that justifies many public managers' jobs. The senior manager who could not manage before is re-classified upwards and becomes part of the contractor's overheads.

So many of these managers are generalists with zilch in the way of subject matter knowledge and expertise, and never any industry experience. Any training (usually written directions) to guide them in their contract management suffers through lack of other expertise and experience. It is especially exasperating for contractors who are professional engineers and the like. Project management is simply not comprehended.

The public bureaucracies do not value professions, or more likely, affirmative action (with the appointment of generalists) has removed the hard edge skills that were previously stated in position descriptions and criteria.