The short answer is that at large companies the bureaucracy often out weighs anything that makes sense. Just glad this particular place is not Healthcare industry and the default security is HIPPA motivated (makes things more interesting).
Only the help desk is allowed to install software by policy (users are local admins so technically can just frowned upon). The help desk is not exacly motivated to support such things. They will also blame any unsactioned software that has been working for 180 days when a patch they rolled out and clearly the culprit of some new issue or so I have heard.
Secondly, I am a contractor and not necesarily around to fix things or remind them how to download (and maybe sneak in on sneaker net) the install file. Technically I could try and sponsor the software for install... Probably 6 months of paperwork for the uninitiated like me.
The only SQL client tools available for official install is for 2005 while the server is 2008. So I can't get the right SQL Native client driver version by hook or crook reliably. <--My SQL Express 2008 install is a mystery that will go unsolved
Lastly the project started in Access and was later moved to SQL through a parallel development effort so I am not technically on the Development team that owns the server. I just wrote the database, except for some data sprocs that the other app uses... Which is really asinine for me, as there is no developer assigned to the server... I bet TFS is here but do I have it? Nope.
So like any sane peron faced with insane situations, I just quietly go about my business keeping the parts lubricated hoping I don't have to listen to the insanity.