The solution would be to have an internal technical agency that is able to write the RFP. Especially one where the incentives (bonuses etc) are tied to the long term success of projects.
In addition to adestefan's point, think about the qualifications the "technical agency" would need to have, and now you have another large government bureaucracy which isn't so popular these days.
For a transit project, this technical agency would need expertise in the following areas (at a minimum):
- vehicle procurement
- infrastructure procurement
- construction management
- geology and geotechnical engineering
- noise & vibration
- pest control
- air quality
- fire safety
- dust control
- archeology
- animal migration
- water quality & watershed
And you would need enough staff in those areas to handle the workload. I would support such an agency, but many folks would not.
"and now you have another large government bureaucracy which isn't so popular these days": That is exactly my point. Of course, if being a civil servant not only pays less (as adestefan says), but it also brings the stigma of being "just a bureaucrat", you're not going to have very good people there.
But things don't have necessarily to be so: Serving the common good is a very motivating goal for many people; not everybody just goes after the biggest paycheck. At least where money isn't the only measure for everything.
The problem is that the internal technical agency needs to avoid regulatory capture and stay competent while never actually doing the work themselves. None of the current solutions of regulator vs. private enterprise setups work great right now.
Personally, I wonder if the best way to keep the system at a higher efficiency would be to have a public works departement which is allowed into bidding alongside private companies. The public works department would intentionally be kept too small to handle all the work needed, but would serve as a similar competitive check as a regulatory agency. Because it's in competition with private bidders, regulatory capture is more difficult, and technical competency is maintained because they're actually executing projects.
I would really love to see a setup like this for mobile broadband too.
Personally, I wonder if the best way to keep the system at a higher efficiency would be to have a public works departement which is allowed into bidding alongside private companies.
That's kinda what happens with commuter rail in the US. Many commuter rail systems might be owned by the transit agency but the agency subcontracts the operations to firms like Keolis. One of the common applicants for these operations bids is Amtrak, which is about as close to a "public option" as we can reasonable get.
Why would I work for that agency when the contractor will hire me for 3x the salary + a large bonus to figure out how to get around anything that agency puts out?
