This isn't going to change until there is a thought process shift for leaders on both the government and contractor side. I worked on a project that fought tooth and nail to create a project using an agile development process and it was one of the best projects I worked on for the government. It was killed due to politics, but the feedback, functionality, UX, and collaboration up to that point were great. Everything else I did was waterfall and we always has the same cycle.
while (true) {
// Contractor working for a year
Government: This isn't what we wanted!
Contractor: We met all of the requirements... See all of the boxes are checked.
Government: Well we want to change 1,2...n things.
Contractor: Okay, Let's do a follow on contract.
Government: Okay, Here is the money; Go.
}
Sounds a bit like the contract I sent to India a few months ago.
One of my requirements was that it was able to send text messages.
What I got, was a ticked box, and an application that could also send text messages to 1 number. No, a number I could choose. One number as in, one cell phone.