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Don't be so hard on yourselves Brits. The phenomenon described is wide spread here in North America, and I suspect wordwide. This could be the effect of procurement agencies having access to internet searches for what they euphemistically characterise as "best practices", or a growing risk aversion to anything other than covering their backside. Other symptoms of the same malaise is the requirement that the proponent have exactly the same team (including all disciplines) for the RFQ/RFP as that in projects provided as evidence of relevant experience. This of course only enforces the predominance of large A/E multi-disciplinary firms over smaller firms that form teams with subconsultants. Generally the level of sophistication in these RFQ/RFP processes is deteriorating, where it seems the view is that purchasing "design services" is no different than purchasing office supplies.