[Taf]

When I worked as a Home Office Radio Tech, stores were centralised for most items, but for some items each depot had the power to locally purchase. The variation in cost through this method was huge, but the system continued to the end (bought lock, stock, barrel and remaining personnel by NTL... then closed down).

Civil Service Inertia, and "the way we've always done it" were the root cause of this idiocy.