How long has military hardware production been done by the "lowest bidder" and what caused this to become the standard?

by Ampatent

Essentially, when did contracting of military hardware become a formalized process and was it always done by the lowest bidder?

coconutnuts

Just a quick question to clarify but if I'm not mistaken the procurement of military hardware is usually or in a lot of cases exempt from normal public procurement rules and thus the premise of lowest bidder is,I think,false. In the EU I believe article 346 TFEU and the EDA code of conduct mention this..