I suspect the contract means that they only actually pay for those that are played

They never seen to connect the thought that “the government is useless at everything” with “oh shit, WE ARE the government!”

Govt departments would be no worse than private business if they:

1. Were given the budget/resources to do their jobs properly
2. Didn’t have to 180 their strategic direction every 3 years because of changing ideologies
3. Didn’t have to rebuild staff morale, skills, experience and office culture every 6-10 years after a clean out.
4. Were able to keep competent managers/staff. Good ones don’t seem to last very long due to the above and more.