diff --git a/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.ProjectModel/PackageSpecWriter.cs b/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.ProjectModel/PackageSpecWriter.cs
index 7c88d3ef8b2..f0a9b9fe2a1 100644
--- a/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.ProjectModel/PackageSpecWriter.cs
+++ b/src/NuGet.Core/NuGet.ProjectModel/PackageSpecWriter.cs
@@ -663,9 +663,9 @@ private static void SetCentralDependencies(IObjectWriter writer, ICollection<Cen
             }
             else
             {
-                foreach (var dependency in centralPackageVersions.OrderBy(dep => dep.Name))
+                foreach (var dependency in centralPackageVersions.OrderBy(dep => dep.Name, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
                 {
-                    writer.WriteNameValue(name: dependency.Name, value: dependency.VersionRange.ToNormalizedString());
+                    writer.WriteNameValue(name: dependency.Name, value: dependency.VersionRange.OriginalString ?? dependency.VersionRange.ToNormalizedString());
                 }
             }
 
diff --git a/test/NuGet.Core.Tests/NuGet.ProjectModel.Test/compiler/resources/DependencyGraphSpec_CentralVersionDependencies.json b/test/NuGet.Core.Tests/NuGet.ProjectModel.Test/compiler/resources/DependencyGraphSpec_CentralVersionDependencies.json
index cc056a3774c..7b789762bf9 100644
--- a/test/NuGet.Core.Tests/NuGet.ProjectModel.Test/compiler/resources/DependencyGraphSpec_CentralVersionDependencies.json
+++ b/test/NuGet.Core.Tests/NuGet.ProjectModel.Test/compiler/resources/DependencyGraphSpec_CentralVersionDependencies.json
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@
             }
           },
           "centralPackageVersions": {
-            "bar": "[2.0.0, )",
-            "foo": "[1.0.0, )"
+            "bar": "2.0.0",
+            "foo": "1.0.0"
           },
           "assetTargetFallback": true
         }