An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (Sept 5, 2011) describes the worry in the Navy that their sole sourced contract for the Aegis Combat System with Lockheed Martin may not have delivered the best deal. Past contracts to Lockheed have been under the sole source process with no competitive bids. But when competitors like Raytheon have argued that it is capable of competing, the Navy has argued that introducing another company may cause delays.   Will competition be a necessary ingredient for the US government to get effective suppliers who deliver on cost and quality ? Will the threat of using Raytheon be sufficient for Lockheed to offer a more competitive price ? Are “sole supplier” contracts justified for some products that involve intense collaboration between the supplier and the US Navy ?