Federal Government IT failures are all too common. Even so called “successes” come with price tags that are too big, timetables that are too long, and architectures that are inflexible. At the root of the problem is a traditional reliance on “waterfall” development and force-fitting commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) applications in an attempt to make them fit government needs. Most of the acquisition and contract writing systems in use throughout the Federal government today were developed with one of these approaches. Widespread user frustration with those systems highlights how neither approach serves the government’s needs well.