Questions that might reveal collusive bidding include:
- Do you know or suspect, or have you heard, that certain bidders have engaged in collusive bidding?
- Do certain companies win contract awards on a rotating basis, or obtain the majority of work in a particular area?
- Do losing bidders appear as sub-contractors to the winning bidder?
- Are the winning and low bids on certain contracts unreasonably high?
- Are certain line items in losing bids unreasonably high?
- Are there physical similarities in bids submitted by different companies, such as identical formats or common spelling errors?
- Are there unusual bidding patterns, such as winning and next lowest bids on several contracts differing by exact amounts, or bidders submitting the same price on different contracts?
- Have different bidders on a contract submitted sequential bid securities, or securities purchased at the same time or the same bank?
- Do some losing bids contain what appear to be deliberate errors, or appear to be deliberately incomplete?
- Do the same bidders bid on every job?
- Do qualified bidders who once bid no longer submit bids?
- Are there qualified bidders who never submit a bid?
- Do prices drop when a new bidder enters the competition?
- Is there correspondence or other indications that contractors engage in pricing agreements, bidder’s conferences, or other agreements?
- Are controls and procedures to prevent collusive bidding in place and enforced?