At some level, yes. There are a number of layers to this. The conflict of interest piece is particularly troublesome.
Ultimately, without clarifying what they are supposed to be doing and then having a mechanism to ensure that we're reporting on their success in doing that, it's just too easy to naturally move into a mode where we try to present what we do as consistent with what has been asked of us, and to remove that accountability where we can, and then ultimately we're not allowed to fail.
Without a measuring system to deal with that, this is the natural tendency. I don't actually fault the department for moving in that direction.