TY - BOOK ID - 138553045 TI - Joint Bidding in Infrastructure Procurement AU - Estache, Antonio AU - Iimi, Atsushi PY - 2008 PB - Washington, D.C., The World Bank, DB - UniCat KW - Access to Markets KW - Affiliated KW - Affiliated organizations KW - Auction KW - Bidding KW - Competition KW - Competition policy KW - Decentralization KW - Finance and Financial Sector Development KW - Foreign companies KW - Foreign firms KW - ICT Policy and Strategies KW - Information and Communication Technologies KW - International Economics & Trade KW - Investment and Investment Climate KW - Macroeconomics and Economic Growth KW - Markets and Market Access KW - Microfinance KW - Public disclosure KW - Public Sector Corruption and Anticorruption Measures UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:138553045 AB - To utilize public resources efficiently, it is required to take full advantage of competition in public procurement auctions. Joint bidding practices are one of the possible ways of facilitating auction competition. In theory, there are pros and cons. It may enable firms to pool their financial and experiential resources and remove barriers to entry. On the other hand, it may reduce the degree of competition and can be used as a cover for collusive behavior. The paper empirically addresses whether joint bidding is pro- or anti-competitive in Official Development Assistance procurement auctions for infrastructure projects. It reveals the possible risk of relying too much on a foreign bidding coalition and may suggest the necessity of overseeing it. The data reveal no strong evidence that joint bidding practices are compatible with competition policy, except for a few cases. In road procurements, coalitional bidding involving both local and foreign firms has been found pro-competitive. In the water and sewage sector, local joint bidding may be useful to draw out better offers from potential contractors. Joint bidding composed of only foreign companies is mostly considered anti-competitive. ER -