Bid Rigging is an illegal agreement between two competitors. It is a form of price fixing, and involves an agreement in which one party of a group of bidders will win the bid. It is often practiced where contracts are determined by bid, for example with government construction contracts. Any agreement between business competitors regarding price is considered price fixing and is illegal in many countries. ...

It can involve:

• Subcontracting

Where some of the bidders opt out under the agreement that some parts of the bid will be subcontracted to them.

• Bid Suppresion

Where some of the bidders opt out of the bid.

• Complementary Bidding

Where some of the bidders bid an amount knowing that it is too high or with unnaceptable conditions.

• Bid Rotation

Where the bidders take turns winning the bid, for example each party winning an equal number of hours of work.

See also

• price fixing
• antitrust
• cartel
• monopoly
• oligopoly
• Net Book Agreement
• Vendor lock-in

Any agreement between business competitors regarding price is considered price fixing and is illegal in many countries. ... Antitrust or competition laws, legislate against trade practices that undermine competitiveness or are considered to be unfair. ... A cartel is a group of producers whose goal it is to fix prices, to limit supply and to limit competition. ... In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ... An oligopoly is a market form in which a market is dominated by a small number of sellers (oligopolists). ... The Net Book Agreement (NBA) was a British agreement between publishers and booksellers which set the prices at which books were to be sold to the public. ... In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in, or more simply, lock-in, is a situation in which a customer is dependent on a vendor for products and services and cannot move to another vendor without substantial switching costs, real and/or perceived. ...

External links

www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/guidelines/pfbrprimer.pdf