"The purpose of the committee is presumably to ensure that the company doesn't waste money. And yet the result is that the company pays 10 times as much." Well

"The purpose of the committee is presumably to ensure that the company doesn't waste money. And yet the result is that the company pays 10 times as much." Well, only if they still buy every product, which would defeat the purpose of having a gatekeeper committee. If, instead, the committee approves only 1 in 25 products that would otherwise have been bought, the committee saves them money (leaving aside the cost of the time of the committee-members).