Tender and Acceptance

In Section 3.1 of the second edition of this book mention was made of the then common and historic practice of ‘cover bidding’, whereby a contractor, following consultation with other bidders, would submit an exaggerated bid with the intention of not being the successful bidder. The intention of an unsuccessful bid was usually to ensure that the contractor was not awarded a contract it was unable to fulfil and to avoid the client taking the contractor off future tender lists in consequence of the contractor declining to submit a tender. Irrespective of motive, the practice is now illegal throughout the United Kingdom and the European Union by virtue of section 2 of the Competition Act 1998 and Article 81 of the European Treaty respectively.