>they are just wined and dined by the contractor when they should be directly overseeing and controlling.
There are actually very strict controls on how much government personnel are allowed to accept from contractors. IIRC, the limit is something like $20-$50 per year in gifts. When contractors host large events with catered lunches, they put out bowls or some other sort of receptacle so that government personnel can pay for their lunch, otherwise it would count towards that annual limit.
Enforcement at the level of "you didn't pay for that six-inch sub and can of coke" is not really practical, but quite a few government personnel have gone to jail in recent memory for accepting more lavish gifts from contractors.
Now, if you send your lobbyists to buy expensive meals for legislators (you know, the ones who actually decide how the money gets spent) and write them big checks, that's generally perfectly legal.
they are just wined and dined by the contractor when they should be directly overseeing and controlling.
>And they shouldn't - the government is woefully inefficient at building products, that's what corporations are good at.
Starting at some architectural level, many DoD systems is a just one-off system, not a product.