Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 34 - GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS, PROCUREMENT AND PROPERTY CONTROL
Part V - Procurement
Chapter 23 - Reporting of Suspected Collusive Bidding or Negotiations
Section V-2311 - Possible Anticompetitive Practices [Formerly LAC 34:I.2311]

A. General. The practices which are described in Subsections B-F of this Section and which the procurement officer suspects might be anticompetitive shall be reported in accordance with §2305 (Reporting Suspected Anticompetitive Practices).

B. Rotated Low Bids or Proposals. Rotated low bids or proposals result where all bidders or proposers participating in the collusive scheme submit bids, but by agreement alternate being the lowest bidder or proposers. In order to determine whether rotation may be occurring, the procurement officer must review similar past procurement in which the same bidders or proposers have participated.

C. Resale Price Maintenance. The practice of resale price maintenance consists of an agreement between a manufacturer and a distributor or a dealer to fix the resale price of a supply. A procurement officer should consider the possibility that such an agreement exists where prices offered adhere to an established pattern, such as a published price schedule, and identical bidding occurs.

D. Sharing of the business occurs where potential bidders or proposers allocate business among themselves based on the customers or the territory involved. Thus a procurement officer might discover that a potential bidder or proposer is not participating in a state procurement because a particular state agency, or a particular territory has not been allocated to such bidder or proposer by the producer or manufacturer.

E. "Tie-In" Sales. "Tie-in" sales are those in which a bidder or proposer attempts to sell one supply or service only upon the condition that the procurement officer purchase another particular supply or service.

F. Group Boycott. A group boycott results from an agreement between competitors not to deal with another competitor or not to participate in, for instance, a state procurement until the boycotting competitors' conditions are met by the boycotted competitor or the state. The boycott of a competitor by other competitors may have an effect on the market structure or price of a supply, service, or major repair items needed by the state.