I was at a conference in Australia once (I'm an American). I met a company there that sold software to local governments.

I asked them if they ever considered expanding to the US. They answered something like this:

No, because governments in America are constrained because Americans hate their government and get upset whenever it spends any money. Americans want their government to spend the least by buying the cheapest stuff, so dealing with them is more trouble than it's worth. No local government in America will ever invest in quality.