I don't understand how contracting stuff out saves money in these instances. Take laundry for instance. The idea is - contract it out because the Army doesn't 'specialize' in laundry, so we'll farm it out to a business that specializes in laundry, that's all they do, laundry is THEIR business so they should be able to do it cheaper, plus the Army can save by not buying expensive washer/dryers - so no capital costs, they just pay for what they use. At what costs - well, as the laundry company CEO, I still need to make a profit and pay my $50M/year salary, because that's what I'm worth. I still have to buy AND maintain the capital, so the cost per load goes up for my customers (I'm sure as hell not eating the capital expenses, I'll finance them and bank on a business model with a payback period of > 9 months), and the cost per load has to cover capital, maintenance, payroll, taxes, and profit - it's all wrapped in the cost to you, the customer/taxpayer. Not to mention, all I do is laundry - you're going to have to pick them up and drop them off - so you'll have to either outsource THE transportation of laundry - hopefully to my other side business (Laundry Transport Inc - where I gouge you on the price there to cover expenses and make profit. Which is a great compliment to my laundry business ) You have no control on how I schedule the laundry coming in and coming out per the way the contract was written, you just pay me to do loads of laundry - thus demoralizing the individual soldiers who don't get clean clothes on a consistent and regular basis. There are TONS of opportunity costs involved (admittedly on both sides of the equation), but you can see the chain reaction of PRIVATE profit centers in the Gov't supply chain when you take on operations like WAR. Great if you're buddy-buddy with the people granting these 'no-bid' contracts. Not so great if you're a taxpayer or an individual soldier fighting for our freedoms.