I would view it like a round-the-world race between ships at sea.Input needs to be coordinated, in order to positive influences actually be beneficial. Controlling all inputs is impossible in most cases, since not everyone that pays a visit will be willing or caring to cooperate. This gives room for conflict.
I guess you can call it a cooperative mechanism, but it doesn't change the bottom line, that players undermine other players gameplay purposefully, or simply as collateral damage. If that's not competitive, I don't know what is.
The ship crews are intentional BGS groups. These can compete or collaborate as they choose.
The unintentional player effects on the BGS are the wind. A skilled sailor can make use of it whatever it is, while a poor one relies on it already going the way they want. The wind does not really compete or cooperate, it just is, but the race would be much less interesting if there was no wind at all.
Frontier and the BGS rules are the landmasses, navigational hazards, and climate which set the boundaries for the race and somewhat direct the wind.
Or without the metaphor: a group whose objectives are threatened merely by uncoordinated player activity does not deserve to meet those objectives. But that doesn't mean the group is competing with the uncoordinated players, any more than a group consisting of players who can't run a mission without getting shot down by Mr Tasty Cargo is competing with Frontier themselves for BGS outcomes.