But, Teribus, our feds do continue to hand out no-bid contracts.   Not all the work given to Halliburton (etc.) is just an extension of already-existing contracts.

And even if a policy is fully legal and above board, it doesn't necessarily mean it's sensible, just, or effective.   Say a company submits the best bid for rebuilding a bridge and even does a decent job on that project.   Automatically handing over all other such projects (not to mention totally different kinds of projects) to that company for several more years on a no-bid basis is an unwise practice and one wildly open to abuse.