Procurement Corruption

> if there's no rule
>against it, the person in charge of buying your equipment can
>simply go with whoever pays him or her the most -- but that's
>not all that likely to get you the best equipment, is it?
Absolutely not: might as well roll a dice ;-) .  But whether or not the 
regs are there, as often happens, the initial specs often contain 
weaknesses (which is why you need humans in the loop, as already
mentioned) 
and when several suppliers meet the "requirements" it can come down to 
individual persuasion, which is readily subject to the "Oh dear me, is
that 
the keys to a spare Jag/BMW/Rolls/Ferrari/[substitute own preference]
that 
I've left on the table?" syndrome.

And getting specs right can be *extremely* costly.

Have fun, Tim Bancroft
http://www.dragonshome.net/