It is really time that a new form of government is developed. It simply does not work this way and, in many ways, at the very least, the current form of democracy is insufficient and incapable of providing proper accountability.
There really needs to be some sort of tie to performance. It obviously cannot be the same kind of tie to civilian/private performance, especially since even that system in this country is grotesquely inadequate. Your motivations should be that your retirement and success is directly pinned to some metric and system of government competition and accountability.
I think the first step would be to separate and limit raising revenues, i.e., taxes, from spending revenues. The legislative function in the whole vertical structure of the government needs to be separated into a fourth branch. It is bone-headedly ridiculous that those who decide on what to spend money, also decide how much to spend, and where that money will come from.
There are so many humongous flaws in our governmental structure that violate so many basic auditing, risk, and accounting principles; it's absolutely ridiculous.
This is far deeper than just the acquisition or bidding process. This goes down deep into the core fundamental premises of our governmental and even social structure. It is a deep flaw that was revolutionary in the agricultural era it was devised in, but simply is far beyond inadequate for today's world.