This project is long gone now, but to answer your question, when you work in government, you have to work within a framework of established boundaries and procedures. One of those are the rules for procurement and reimbursement and we have a legislated preference for vendors within our borders. A private person or even someone in a corporation can get something done in a hurry commercially, and not be too fussy about overpaying or using sketchy suppliers. We have a lot of rules and procedures that are absolute and sometimes byzantine, but then again, it is the People’s tax money, and it *should* be very carefully spent, and only when necessary. So we have a lot more hoops for vendors and services to go thru, as part of our proper fiduciary responsibility. Being located physically in-state is one such. We can break that rule occasionally, under extenuating circumstances, but that takes more time than the project had.
Readers’ Digest version of this explanation: If it wasn’t a deal-breaker, I wouldn’t have bothered to mention it in the first place.