Uncovering the Meaning of "Decoy" in Bidding

[pixel01]

Hi all,

I do not know if English has a word to describe this. Let's say there are 3 tenderers A, B, C who are in a bid (for smt). But in fact only tenderer A is the only one who wants to win. B and C are just there (because the law requires 3 units) so they wishes to lose and after that they can have some benefit from tenderer A. Of course they have agreed in before that

I do not know whether there are words to describe tenderer A and tenderers B , C in this case? I just think of DECOY, but it seems not correct.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[WarPhalange]

What's a "tenderer"?

 

[pixel01]

What's a "tenderer"?

Who participates in a bid , similar to a bidder (try to gain a work ..)

 

[Evo]

They would be accomplices.

Merriam Webster dictionary

accomplice: one associated with another especially in wrongdoing

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accomplice

 

[rootX]

They also seem to be in http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=cartel&gwp=13"

The government wants perfect/monopolistic competition (economics definition) but due to lack of competitors they are joining together to get more profits (this is illegal in NA)...?

 

[Evo]

They also seem to be in http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=cartel&gwp=13"

The government wants perfect/monopolistic competition (economics definition) but due to lack of competitors they are joining together to get more profits (this is illegal in NA)...?

I don't think cartel is what he's looking for in his scenario, though.

 

[pixel01]

Thanks for your ideas.
Anyway, accomplice is too general, I mean the X-word is more used in bidding, tenderring ect.., It's narrow (and it's to describe smt illigal, so probably it's a slang)
cartel is not used in this, I think

 

[rewebster]

B and C are 'shill' bidders

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

A ringer. See the third definition in the Thesaurus section.
Free Dictionary

 

[Evo]

I had thought of shill, but a "shill" as more of someone who distracts others from what is going on.

The definition of a shill

Merriam-Webster

shill

1 a: one who acts as a decoy

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

See, wikipedia agrees, they don't participate, they act on the side.

jimmy's definition of ringer seems to fit what the OP is looking for

jimmy wins, he shoots, he scores

 

[Moonbear]

It's called corruption. Probably qualifies as collusion too, between the three contractors, for the sake of a kick-back for helping the winner get the bid.

I think another term for it is "government contractors."

 

[Astronuc]

"rigged" is the adjective that describes a process which has a predetermined outcome, as in "rigged election", or "rigged bid", which is illegal - at least in the US and most countries.

See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bid_rigging

One would have to dig into the specific laws to find the terms for the participants, but conspirator or accomplice would probably fit.

In the United States, bid-rigging is a criminal offence under section 1 of the Sherman Act. In Canada, it is a criminal offence under section 47 of the Competition Act. In the UK, individuals can be prosecuted criminally under the Enterprise Act. In Japan it is a violation of both the Anti-Monopoly Law as well as Public Law, but is rampant nationwide in construction and engineering works.

 

[LowlyPion]

Thanks for your ideas.
Anyway, accomplice is too general, I mean the X-word is more used in bidding, tenderring ect.., It's narrow (and it's to describe smt illigal, so probably it's a slang)
cartel is not used in this, I think

Co-conspirators should work, for US legal purposes anyway. The parties would have conspired among themselves to subvert the bidding process. Insofar as the conspiracy would be concerned they would all be co-conspirators and equally liable.

 

[tribdog]

What's a "tenderer"?

tenderer; more soft or delicate in substance; not hard or tough

so this whole thing made no sense to me

 

[arildno]

I think he meant contender..

 

[arildno]

B and C fills up, in a way, positions so that A is guaranteed to win.

I wonder what sort of competition would work for something like this, since it:
a) Seems to require that three, and only three, are allowed to join in the competion
and
b) That B and C have the opportunity to withdraw themselves at a stage where the one arranging the competition cannot issue a "re-match" (i.e, so that A is guaranteed winning)

 

[Evo]

I think he might have meant tenderer as someone who is trading (bartering, tendering).

 

[Astronuc]

The English use "tenderer" as the US uses "bidder", at least that's what I have seen in RFQs or RFPs and responses at companies where I've worked.

Tender (n) is a formal offer, and typically in business (as opposed to Law), it is a written offer to contract goods or services at a specified cost or rate, i.e. a bid.

 

[BobG]

It's called corruption. Probably qualifies as collusion too, between the three contractors, for the sake of a kick-back for helping the winner get the bid.

I think another term for it is "government contractors."

Moonbear is right with collusion. Major league baseball owners were found guilty of collusion in bidding for free agent players some time ago. They arranged not to outbid for certain players in return for other teams not outbidding them on players they wanted to obtain.

Contractors could easily do the same, except agreeing not to underbid each other's bid with each contractor getting the amount of business they can handle, but at a higher profit for each job.

Of course, the problem with contractors trying to use collusion is that someone outside the agreement can slide in and underbid the contractor's that colluded with each other, so it only works in limited circumstances for short periods of time, even if it weren't usually illegal. In baseball, the owners control the number of teams that can play in the league, so collusion worked very well for them ... at least until they were caught.

 

[Evo]

Moonbear is right with collusion.

It depends, he seems to be asking what the people are called, not what they are guilty of. If you read the OP, he said the word he found was "decoy" but that wasn't the word he was looking for. I still think jimmy's "ringer" definition fits the best, at least so far.

3. ringer - a contestant entered in a competition under false pretenses
faker, imposter, impostor, pseud, pseudo, role player, sham, shammer, pretender, fraud, fake - a person who makes deceitful pretenses

There might be another slang term for what you would call the person, but I can't think of one.

 

[BobG]

It depends, he seems to be asking what the people are called, not what they are guilty of. If you read the OP, he said the word he found was "decoy" but that wasn't the word he was looking for. I still think jimmy's "ringer" definition fits the best, at least so far.



There might be another slang term for what you would call the person, but I can't think of one.

Colluder

col·lude Audio Help (kə-lōōd') Pronunciation Key
intr.v. col·lud·ed, col·lud·ing, col·ludes
To act together secretly to achieve a fraudulent, illegal, or deceitful purpose; conspire.


[Latin collūdere : com-, com- + lūdere, to play; see leid- in Indo-European roots.]

col·lud'er n.

col·lu·sion Audio Help /kəˈluʒən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuh-loo-zhuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a secret agreement, esp. for fraudulent or treacherous purposes; conspiracy: Some of his employees were acting in collusion to rob him.
2. Law. a secret understanding between two or more persons to gain something illegally, to defraud another of his or her rights, or to appear as adversaries though in agreement: collusion of husband and wife to obtain a divorce.

 

[Evo]

Colluder

accomplice: one associated with another especially in wrongdoing

So there.

conspirator and co-conspirator have also been suggested, it's not hard to click on the thesaurus at any dictionary link, but he says he's looking for a slang word. Our words aren't slang. jimmy still has my vote, but I don't think any of us have come up with what he's looking for.

 

[tribdog]

confragumastulator
I think this is what he is looking for. It is a slang word I just made up and its definition is: Let's say there are 3 tenderers A, B, C who are in a bid (for smt). But in fact only tenderer A is the only one who wants to win. B and C are just there (because the law requires 3 units) so they wishes to lose and after that they can have some benefit from tenderer A. Of course they have agreed in before that

 

[Evo]

Dictionary definition

confragumastulator: a conspiring accomplice guilty of collusion

OMG! that's it!

 

[rootX]

confragumastulator
I think this is what he is looking for. It is a slang word I just made up and its definition is: Let's say there are 3 tenderers A, B, C who are in a bid (for smt). But in fact only tenderer A is the only one who wants to win. B and C are just there (because the law requires 3 units) so they wishes to lose and after that they can have some benefit from tenderer A. Of course they have agreed in before that

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=confragumastulator&btnG=Google+Search&meta=


I wonder if someone ever used that

A really cool word though!

 

[rootX]

Dictionary definition

confragumastulator: a conspiring accomplice guilty of collusion

OMG! that's it!

which dictionary?

 

[Evo]

which dictionary?

ooops, sorry I was joking.

 

[tribdog]

Physics Forium's Collegiate First Edition, duh.

 

[turbo]

B and C fills up, in a way, positions so that A is guaranteed to win.

I wonder what sort of competition would work for something like this, since it:
a) Seems to require that three, and only three, are allowed to join in the competion
and
b) That B and C have the opportunity to withdraw themselves at a stage where the one arranging the competition cannot issue a "re-match" (i.e, so that A is guaranteed winning)

This type of collusion is common at country auctions and in bidding for municipal services.

Auction: dealers see some really nice rare stuff in an estate - stuff that could sell for considerably more than an average person could afford. Instead of competing for the good pieces against one another, they take turns competing against the general public (generally pretty ignorant about the values of rare stuff) and get most or all of the goods that they want. Later, they join up and agree how to divvy the loot and who has to kick in a bit more money or get some back. Dealers like this can KILL a poorly advertised estate sale.

In municipal contract bidding, there are generally a few big players and they decide who will get a particular bid. Perhaps they are bidding to provide bulk food for a school lunch program. Most of them bid pretty high, leaving one contractor looking good in comparison, but still with a high enough bid to make a great profit. As the low bidder, he gets the contract, and he can either kick back some profits to the collaborators or cut them in on sub-contract deals. An outsider trying to horn in on this profitable action can easily find himself in some trouble with some ruthless people. I'm pretty familiar with this one since a former client of mine got a big fine and federal prison time for pulling this.

 

[BobG]

Dictionary definition

confragumastulator: a conspiring accomplice guilty of collusion

OMG! that's it!

I think this term only applies to gum chewers distributed around the class room who collude in popping their gum in a pattern that confuses the teacher as to which part of the classroom the gum popping is coming from.

When the teacher looks to the right of the room to catch the gum chewer, someone on the left side of the classroom pops their gum. When the teacher looks to the left, someone on the right pops their gum. And so on...

Or is that a confragumasticator?

Any of you folks ever play Balderdash? I used to love that game.