Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/163004 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
CeDEx Discussion Paper Series No. 2016-03
Publisher: 
The University of Nottingham, Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics (CeDEx), Nottingham
Abstract: 
Reverse auctions are considered a fast and inexpensive price discovery tool to award procurement contracts and it is often desirable to award contracts to more than one supplier. We propose a new procurement procedure that is based on a reverse auction. Shares are allocated endogenously, depending on the suppliers´ bids. The procedure obtains dual sourcing by assigning positive shares to the two most competitive bids and uses discarded bids to endogeneize the reserve price. In equilibrium the two most competitive suppliers are awarded contracts. Surprisingly, when discarded suppliers are competitive enough, the procedure not only allows taking advantage of dual sourcing but also generates lower procurement expenditures than a standard auction for sole sourcing. We also show that providers reveal their costs truthfully and that the procurement procedure can be used in different scenarios concerning what providers know about each others´ costs, provided the assumption of private values holds.
Subjects: 
dual sourcing
procurement auctions
contests
price discovery
JEL: 
D44
D47
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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