Why is the federal bureaucracy so incompetent?

I originally wrote this on October 21 but didn't have the heart to publish it until now...

I am very much a fiscal libertarian. I believe that the government shouldn't be dictating how I go about the day-to-day actions of my life, that we should have a free market filled with competition that allows us, the consumers, to benefit with low prices and more choices. I hate that our taxpayer money goes towards bureaucratic offices that have become so bloated that they are inefficient. Mostly, I just want to have as much control as possible over what happens in my life.  

Unfortunately I need to work with a federal agency to deal with a personal issue. After my first discussion with them months ago I was told to send in documentation about my issue, and so I mailed the paperwork to their local field office in early July. My grandmother always told me that in situations like this it was best to "Let go and let God." So that is exactly what I did - I did not follow up with them until earlier this month, going into this knowing that this agency was slow to respond.  

When I did attempt to follow up by calling their local field office, my call went straight to voicemail, despite the fact that I called during normal business hours. I then called the federal helpline, and they told me they would pass the message on to the field office and have them give me a ring back. 

This was two weeks ago. Last week, after not hearing back from them, I called both the field office and the national helpline to follow up, and again received a voicemail at one and a promise to pass the message on at the other.  

Fast-forward to today. I finally get a call back, but it's from the WRONG OFFICE! After being told that they couldn't transfer me to the correct office, I called the correct office myself and finally got through.

But it gets better. When I mailed my documentation in July I paid for signature confirmation and a tracking number so that I could confirm that they received the package. So of course today when I am finally speaking to someone she tells me that she's out of another regional office and that while I did indeed send my documents to the right office she had no record of them in her system at the office that processes them - and she wanted me to resend them! (Fortunately after some digging on her end they were discovered at the original field office and transferred to her for processing). 

If you're confused by that last paragraph, you're not alone. Today I've talked to people at four different offices - all for the same federal agency! Granted, I should have followed up sooner, but knowing how slow the federal government is with ANYTHING I figured it wouldn't matter. 

My point to this long rant is this: If we are going to have an overarching federal bureaucracy it needs to be severely streamlined. I should have only had to speak to one person today, not four. If there are going to be regional offices there should only be one regional office that handles everything - not a series of regional offices. National staff should be able to help more localized staff if necessary. The fact that we have so many barriers up in this process is ridiculous. 
It all makes me wonder how we can handle newer, even larger programs like Obamacare if we're already so inefficient?!?

Note: Despite followup phone calls to the last person I spoke to I have yet to hear back from her. Le sigh...