The way I read the article, I thought an opponent of the deal was trying to ask raise the issue that "other firms" have different things they are "normally" asked to do, and that this opponent was thinking specifically of something that was probably in his field, the telecommunications industry.
When he asked the government official, the official tried to explain why HIS comparison was wrong. I don't think anybody in the government was intending to compare the two.
Thanks for the follow-up.
You may be right. It could be a reporter-related comparison, subsequently reported without clarification and somewhat misleadingly. That would be a real surprise, wouldn't it? : )