I wouldn't get too excited about the possibility of criminal punishment. U.S. offshore drilling is regulated by the Minerals Management Service, and it's quite clear that eight years of government run by oil tycoons turned that agency into a laughing stock that had no interest in enforcing regulations:


Inspector General’s Inquiry Faults Regulators

So, not only did the MMS rubber-stamp the oil companies' inspection reports, but they were wanking on the job (literally!), accepting bribes, and showing up to work under the influence of crystal meth. With regulatory capture like that, it's a wonder we don't have a Deepwater Horizon spill every year.

To directly answer your original questions... No, there's nobody else out there who can do this better than BP. And BP isn't really equipped to do it, either. Nobody bothered to make sure there was a way to clean up a mess like this.

Regarding damages, BP is in theory responsible for all of the cleanup of the spill, however, they'll probably just end up paying for the cost of making the oil that's on the water go away. This is why they've focused so much on using dispersants, going so far as to ignore government directives to stop using a toxic dispersant. BP wants the oil to be out of sight, and out of mind.

Aside from the direct spill cleanup, a law passed in 1990 in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill limits BP's liability to a paltry $75 million. Congress is trying to remove that cap now (talk about closing the barn doors after the cows are gone) but obviously BP would be subject to the $75 million limit that was in place when the accident occurred. Good for them, bad for us.