Regardless of contractor performance, states are accountable to the federal government for meeting the terms of federal funding arrangements. Ultimately, taxpayers are likely to bear the costs of poor quality or outright non-performance, and to bail out companies for cost overruns. The Role of Information Technology Child support is just one of several areas in which many jurisdictions have sought outside expertise for information technology. States and local governments increasingly need to create and maintain complex data applications to track and process recipients of other programs as well. However, utilizing the private sector to provide these applications has sometimes been disastrous.
Technology can also be a veiled way to downsize staff and dumb down services.
Finally, technology is a major entry point for private companies into the social services market. While some firms do indeed have expertise not readily available in the public sector, states and local governments should be wary of turning over their records, responsibility for them, and other crucial information infrastructure to private firms.