I really don't know. I wasn't there long enough and didn't have full insight into the workings. But my guess is that they eventually settled on a solution that met most of the specs at a reasonable cost.

However, what that opens up, is a way for corrupt officials to favor a vendor and use the others-did-not-meet-this-particular-spec as a justification.

Just my 2c. I really have no idea if it actually was ever used in this way.