My understanding is that in the RCMP, before it went off to the Public Works, Morneau Sobeco was involved in calculating the actual estimates for this sort of contract. They may even have been involved in actually writing up the request for proposal--the specifications that went into that proposal. Lo and behold, when the tendering process worked its way through, guess who bid on it? Morneau Sobeco. Guess who won the bid? Morneau Sobeco.
In your experience, would you call this standard practice in procurement?