I was having a catch-up with a good friend and he started to talk about his frustrations in gaining traction in the public sector procurement market, particularly the IT sector. His was a tale of unfairness, inequality, closed shops and worse.

I listened to his woes before I made any comment. It was clear very early on that my friend had very little sense of the reason why local government and the wider public sector exists. To him, it was just another market to exploit.