The problem at a higher level lies in the culture of government:
1. You are rewarded for spending your budget, not making a profit.
2. Consequence of 1), the bigger your project budget, the more prestige is in it, bureaucrats gain bragging rights by spending big on IT.
3. Fear of failure vs. trying to succeed: a lack of constraints in terms of spending, coupled with a culture first and foremost driven by fear of failure rather than striving for success means they end up in endless loops of trying to plan for every eventuality, as opposed to actually doing anything.
4. Related to 3), as long as you don’t cut a project, you’re not perceived to have failed, a direct consequence of the lack of sensitivity that normally comes in the private sector when companies are actually spending their own, hard-earned money (think a CEO can stay on saying he spent the profit on not stopping an IT project?)
5. Bureaucracy: hardly surprising, useless bureaucrats think that the only solution to any problem is more bureaucracy and central control. If the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.

Finally, lets face it, the brightest people don’t work in safe, low-paying government jobs, they don’t need the safety, but they’d sure rather take the money of private sector work. As a consequence, smart people are few and far between when it comes to permanent members of staff in government/public sector.