Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 27 - STATE PERSONNEL BOARD › Part 100 › Chapter 3 - SOURCE SELECTION AND CONTRACT FORMATION › Section 27-100-3-702 - REPORTING OF ANTI-COMPETITIVE PRACTICES

Current through June 25, 2024
When, for any reason collusion or other anti-competitive
				  practices are suspected among any bidders, offerors, or respondents, a notice
				  of the relevant facts shall be transmitted to the Attorney General.
3-702.01
Anti-Competitive
				Practices
For the purposes of this section, an anti-competitive
				  practice is a practice among bidders, offerors, or respondents which reduces or
				  eliminates competition or restrains trade. An anticompetitive practice can
				  result from an agreement or understanding among competitors to restrain trade
				  such as submitting collusive bids, proposals, or statements of qualifications
				  or result from illicit business actions which have the effect of restraining
				  trade, such as controlling the resale price of products or an improper
				  collective refusal to bid. Indications of suspected anti-competitive practices
				  include, but are not limited to, identical bids, proposals, or statements of
				  qualifications, rotated low bids or proposals, sharing of the business,
				  "tie-in" sales, resale price maintenance, and group boycotts.
Note:
Bidders, offerors, or
				  respondents are prohibited by federal and Mississippi law from collectively
				  responding to a solicitation in a manner that controls directly or indirectly
				  the price of a supply, service, or construction item sought. Mississippi Code
				  Annotated §
										75-21-15.
				  This prohibition may extend to such actions establishing any of the following:
				  minimum or maximum prices; uniform list prices; uniform credit terms; uniform
				  discounts; uniform costs and mark-ups; uniform trade-in allowances; specified
				  price differentials between varying grades of the same product, price ranges,
				  price scales or price calculation formulas; and, minimum fee schedules.
3-702.02
Independent Price
				Determination
Every solicitation shall provide that by submitting a bid,
				  offer, or SOQs, the bidder, offeror, or respondent certifies that the price
				  submitted was independently arrived at without collusion. The agency may
				  require the signing of a separate form which certifies that the price in the
				  bid or offer was arrived at independently.
3-702.03
Detection of Anti-Competitive
				Practices
In order to assist in ascertaining whether or not an
				  anti-competitive practice may have occurred or may be occurring, the
				  Procurement Officer should be alert and sensitive to conditions of the market
				  place and will often find it necessary to study past procurements including, as
				  appropriate, the following:
(a) a
				study of the bidding history of a commodity or service over a period of time
				sufficient to determine any significant bidding patterns or changes;
(b) a review of similar Mississippi contract
				awards over a period of time; and,
(c) consultation with outside sources of
				information, such as bidders, offerors, or respondents who have competed for
				similar Mississippi businesses in the past but who are no longer competing for
				such business.