Reminds me of something I heard the other day. When we buy something with our own money that we will personally consume we care about both price and quality. That is a first party purchase.
If we are buying a gift for someone, we care about price but might not be as concerned about quality. That is a second party purchase.
If we are consuming something that we don't have to pay for, we may care about quality but not how much it costs...also a second party purchase.
If we are buying something that we will not personally consume and it is being purchased with someone else's money, that is a third party purchase and we will care little about price or quality.
Here is the kicker. By definition, all government purchases are third party purchases...products (or services) that they will not personally consume and paid for with money that is not thiers. Consequently, there is little concern about price or quality.