When rivals team up in procurement: Does it distort competition?

The purpose of this article is to offer insights to courts and competition authorities on how to assess horizontal agreements to team up in a procured project. We argue that agreements that are specified in advance of bidding should be evaluated against the counterfactual whereby firms negotiate subcontracts after bidding has ended. Following this approach, we challenge the commonly held viewpoint that joint bidding distorts competition if the bidding consortium members could each bid solo. We also question the need for bidding consortium members to integrate their operations.