It's not always low bid that has to win - it depends upon the type of commodity or service being offered. The particular gripe that I have is that many of these extraordinarily large contracts are sole-sourced, meaning no competition in the manner of delivery, nor the price. And, mostly, these sole-sourced contracts are friends of somebody high up.

That is just flat wrong. That sort of thing would land local politicians in the press, and in jail. I guess it's just the way things get done sometimes in Washington.