&gt; <i>The &quot;cheapest offer wins&quot; is (IMO) in general not how private companies work.</i><p>I&#x27;d disagree with that assessment - &quot;cheapest offer wins&quot; is pretty much the way private companies work as well any time they can get away with it. See: procurement in any mid-to-large company, or the whole stereotype of &quot;made in China = sucks&quot; when it&#x27;s not the fault of Chinese factories, but of companies that want to pay as little as possible for manufacturing (if they&#x27;d pay for quality production, they&#x27;d get quality products even from China).<p>Private companies can be as inefficient as public institutions, but it isn&#x27;t talked about since they&#x27;re usually wasting just their own (and their customers&#x27;) money.