Sentences to ponder

"The case for competitive government purchasing is that the long-term impact on the price and quality of goods and services and the price, quality, and process of public works will provide direct benefits to public authorities. But, for each individual public authority, these benefits tend to be opaque, while the costs of abandoning regional preferences or support for local or national firms are highly visible and immediate."

Mitchell P. Smith, States of Liberalization: redefining the public sector in integrated europe (2005)

I think this encapsulates well the dissonance between what the rules are trying to achieve and the behaviour we observe in practice. It also explains why the idea of strategic objectives can easily be weaponised to deliver a protectionist agenda.