What does bid rigging involve?

Bid rigging involves conspiring among bidders to raise prices on bids. This practice undermines the competitive bidding process, which is meant to ensure that public contracts are awarded based on fair competition among vendors. By colluding to influence the outcome of the bidding process, the participants can control the price and eliminate the price competition that typically benefits the purchasing entity.

This behavior violates both ethical standards in procurement and legal regulations designed to foster competition and prevent fraud in public contracting. It can lead to inflated costs for taxpayers and can erode trust in public procurement systems. The emphasis on collusion to set higher prices is what distinguishes bid rigging from other scenarios such as negotiating discounts or sharing information, which do not inherently involve the manipulation of bids to the detriment of competition.