Stephen Blake, director of the Office of Fair Trading (23 October, page 30) has drawn attention to the illegality of one bidder obtaining a price from another

Does this mean that builders merchants who obtain 鈥渄elivered direct鈥� prices from manufacturers and then submit prices to contractors 鈥渁pparently鈥� in competition with those same manufacturers can expect the next round of dawn raids?

The timber and brick markets should keep the OFT busy for a while 鈥� then they can move on to all the other industries where wholesalers and manufacturers sell direct.

They may eventually find that purchasing for serious money should always be organised by professional buyers and QSs who have been trained to identify the bid that is the best value for money, rather than assuming that all bids are offered with equal research and enthusiasm and the only difference is the price.

Perhaps Tony Bingham can continue the discussion?

Ron Green

Topics