Shawn, you forget the first requirement of a RFP: justifiy the positions of the persons crafting said document and those who certify compliance with same.
I read a hysterically funny story in a professional journal about an FBI RFP for shotgun ammo "back in the day". Some outfit no one had ever heard of won it. Extremely puzzled, the FBI contacted the local field office and had them visit the concern. It turned out to be a couple of Bubbas in a garage with a MEC jr, who had no possibility of being able to actually deliver the product in the quantities required. After that, the RFP process was upgraded, probably including the phrase "lowest responsible bidder" or "qualified bidder".
And yes, the rules have gotten worse, including provisions for special consideration to various firms owned/operated by various ethnic, sexual and other .....out of the mainstream peoples who may or may not operate in special economic zones that require subsidation.
As I said in my original post, I know WHY they have to do it that way, but it is absolutely infuriating.
One of the big problems which did not come through in my original post, perhaps, is that it took the better part of a year for them to make a decision on OFF THE SHELF 9mm ammo.
The free market comes up with a better product in the meantime and the officers are deprived of it because the bid process takes so long. It is especially bad with computers and other types of electronic devices. The technology goes much faster than the bid process.
With ammo, that is a matter of officer/agent safety. The silly rules impair officer safety and there should be exceptions allowing them to really buy off the shelf products without going through the nonsense. I realize also that it is not the fault of the hapless secretaries or clerical people who type up the RFPs. They are merely following crazy rules put into place by lawmakers or bureaucrats who are more concerned about political correctness and other factors than about officer/agent safety.
As far as one poster said, instead of complaining, do something. Well, I am doing something. I am exposing this nonsense for what it is. Every officer/agent and their representatives should be screaming to the legislature to mandate changes.
I mean it gets crazy. FBI tests pistols and adopts new .40 caliber Glocks. Other federal agencies test pistols, and the Glock doesn't pass and they adopt SIG, or S&W, or HK, etc.
Now, why that is so remains a mystery, but the part I fail to understand is why it is necessary for each agency to re-invent the wheel with its own expensive testing process.
Homeland Security has a big weapons test. FBI has a big weapons test. Secret Service, DEA, ATF, all have a big weapons test.
Then FBI has a few ammo tests. Then Homeland Security. Then Secret Service. Then ATF and LAPD and NYPD, etc.
Are all of their needs so different that they have to do it all over again, costing us millions in the process.
Don't red flags go up when the "best LE pistol in the world" suddenly doesn't even finish the test when conducted by another agency.
All the while the poor officers/agents on the street are waiting and waiting and waiting while the bureaucrats do their thing.
Remember when NYPD said their Glock mags had to hold 10. Then an officer ran out of ammo and got killed. Then, it was ok to have 15? Did we really have to sacrifice that officer for the sake of the bureaucratic cowards who will not go on the record to demand what the officers need for fear of offending some loud, angry group?
Whether the FBI goes back to 9mm pistols across the board (there is serious talk of that) and whether they stay with Glock (there is also serious talk of that) and whether they need 9mm or .40 or 10mm or .45 ACP is academic if the agents cannot get the best equipment NOW because of a contracting process that takes a year to complete, all the while the FBI's 9mm previous choice (Q4364) has a projectile that has become outdated and is not as effective as the newer projectile in RA9B.
I am screaming about this because this is a life or death matter, and it is not the same as hammers, toilet seats, ash trays and other stuff the government buys on bid.
There ought to be a fast track for this type of safety equipment and I am doing the only thing I can, which is to go to the trouble of reading the RFP (every word of it) and then expressing my disgust with the process by apparently unhappy or, to some, offensive terms.
It is all I can do. But, if enough people do it, hopefully someone listens.
For example, any gun-toting robber who get shot/killed by law-abiding folks, if he has prior convictions of gun crime/robbery, police should immediately terminate any investigation and take away legal recourse from his family. Also any teenager who gets caught with gun crime, his parents should be held liable and financially responsible for the incarceration of their kid (no money? Go and clean the dirty street or sewage system w/o pay). Prisoner should be doing some job (prison labor) to pay for his incarceration (partially). 
