What navies lost by outsourcing warship design

Do navies still issue a complete ship design and ask yards to bid on building it?

Many navies outsourced their design capacity as shipbuilding slowed, leaving contractors to shape requirements and governments with fewer genuine bidders.

Navies once maintained design teams, prepared specifications, and invited yards to bid on building a common design. Lower construction rates made those teams look expensive, so design work moved to contractors. Even initial proposals and specification writing were subsequently outsourced. Contractors then charged for specialised labour, company overhead, and profit. The hoped-for economy depended on winning overseas orders, although governments still preferred their own national suppliers.