Funny.
It never ceases to amaze how a completely private entity goes caput and the public end up paying money.
The whole point of outsourcing is increasing flexibility and reducing risk so why one private company collapsing would make everyone look for someone to blame inside the govt is beyond me.
I guess the piece of the chain that is really slipping always is the "public servant" who can be persuaded to move everyone else's money to this or that company through contracts so, Why use people?
Public contract assingment and evaluation can be one of those few examples where smart contracts could really prove to be worth something. Formal rules to assign contracts and formal rules to evaluate their conditions are met. Everyone can see where the money is going and, since the contract itself can't be persuaded by fancy dinners or expensive cars, there is less room for corruption.
And it has the upside of removing a few more bureaucrats from the market as well.
This is a prime area where blockchain will come in and change government.
Down the road, these types of situations will not take place since all activity will be on the blockchain.
Right now, the money flows rules....the "public servant" you mentioned is basically bribed....we see that in the US with our Congress...their re-election wallets are filled by corporate entities (I know they arent allowed to do that) which effectively buys them influence.
This is not much different then the cash in an envelop put in a cake box like in Shawshank Redemption.
This company might not be as "private" as some may believe. It had mostly governments contracts, using borrowed money to finance the jobs the government wanted, and then dropping the ball back on government less all the borrowed cash which will be wiped out.
Its maybe conspiracy theory but this may have been a useful company that was used to fleece investors and get what the government and their cronies wanted at bargain prices. Unless the government falls that is