Government vs. Private Sector Competition

A recent local newspaper article touted how the natural gas company, owned by the city, was awarded a $6.5million contract for a complete upgrade of the "energy management and control system" at the National Naval Aviation Museum. To be fair, the gas company is using Siemens, a private company, as a subcontractor. But here's the thing; the gas company is heating and we're in Florida, so the portion of the "energy management and control system" they'd logically be involved in would be the least utilized.

My issue with this is that a public utility, it seems, shouldn't be in competition with private sector contractors for this type of work. I.e. I think of public utilities being set up because providing that utility is somehow cost prohibitive for a private company, but is still needed. Following that logic, it seems that the natural gas company's services should end with the providing of natural gas to the end user, not being a general contractor for entire energy management system upgrades to a national museum.

This may seem trivial to a lot of people, but consider that within the last 6 months the city leased one floor of its main building to a private company. Some local owners of commercial real estate saw that as the city competing in the commercial real estate business. I must admit that until the issue of unfair competition was brought up by one of those owners, I hadn't given it much thought. But now, with this latest contract award, it seems the city government grows ever more controlling.

The more I considered both of these situations, the more it seemed that a trend has begun and if not squelched, this may lead to more government control being the norm.

I am very interested in hearing what you think of this.