Dishonest Bidding

The issue in civil engineering that I would like to discuss is that of engineering companies scheming together to rig bidding on public works projects.  There was one such incident recently that took place in two southern states.  The incident involved over 70 firms located in that region.  What these companies were doing was when a project would open up for bids, companies would talk to each other, discuss who would get the job, then bid accordingly to keep the prices high and the terms of the contract to their advantage.  This gave the appearance that competitive bidding was taking place, when in all reality they were rigging the system to charge more money.  Such behavior violates not only the Code of Ethics for Engineers, but it is also in direct violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act established in 1890.

http://ethics.tamu.edu/portals/3/Images/ethics.jpg

There are many problems with the conduct of these companies.  They were taking the competition out of bidding for these engineering projects.  Competition drives progress.  It also makes sure the work the company does is of the highest quality and for the lowest possible price.  These things among others are important for a successful economy.  The Sherman Antitrust Act was established to maintain this competition.  By placing predetermined bids on public projects, they are purposely charging more than they think they could if they were truly in a bidding war for the project.  This is essentially just stealing state and federal funds.  Funds, I might add, that come from our tax dollars.  They also do not always uphold the quality of work they otherwise would if competing with other companies to keep the project.  When the quality of work is low and the project expensive, the civil engineering community quickly loses legitimacy with the public.  Without public support for future projects, the future of the civil engineering career field is not near as bright.

The other side to this argument is whether what these companies were doing is really wrong.  Yes, it goes against the legal policies set forth by our laws, but it also helped numerous projects get pushed through and happen sooner.  These projects create jobs and help the economy.  Some projects require at least three bids before they are allowed to started.  When one company bids on the project, but no others want it, these companies consider it professional courtesy to put in high bids just to get the project pushed through and create work for the fellow engineers.  One of the accused, and later convicted, contractors involved in the scheme said this was an established practice when he first showed up to the job years ago.  He also said that although he was “uncomfortable” taking part in the mentioned actions, he does not consider them illegal.  In my opinion these are just excuses for not following the ethics he should have internalized when he became an engineer.  Laws are laws, and they need to be followed.

With the amount of responsibility civil engineers have using public funds to create and maintain the infrastructure of our nation, deviating from the laws is unacceptable.  We need to do the right thing by creating competition amongst companies to ensure the work we do is of the highest quality and for the lowest price.  The public’s safety is at risk if we do not.  Each and every engineer should take it upon his or herself to uphold these standards and live by the proper ethical code.

Information found on the ASCE website: http://www.asce.org/Ethics/A-Question-of-Ethics/2011/March-2011/