To establish the broad outline, there must be some involvement.
Afterwards, in terms of the administrative process leading up to the awarding of the contract, there should be a reserve right to withdraw and decide to not get involved.
In the example that I provided on the principle of the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law, I suggested that the spirit of the law be defined and then that people be allowed to define the letter of the law. In this case, the spirit or purpose of the program should be determined. Senior public servants should then be allowed to go through the normal contracting process.
However, if there were exception rules, I'd suggest that the political actors shouldn't interfere in the administrative work. Instead, the administrative staff should return to see the politicians to validate certain decisions that they must make.