19th June 2007, 11:33 AM
It is all depends on the spirit of what was actually intended and the relationship between two organisations. To a degree it also depends on what the contract was.
Sub-contracting goes on a lot in archaeology and thus this situation can arise. With the rise of freelancers ie individuals working for other archaeological companies I can envisage the sorts of situations that give rise to this. This is particularly so when freelancers are also working directly for a client.
As a deliberate move to ask for a quote in order to find out the price when there is no intent to sub-contract from them is sharp practice.
To ring up with the intent to sub contract and find you are both bidding for the same job is acceptable provided the two firms do not seek to fix the price in favour of one of them (this would be illegal).
It is also perfectly possible to bid against somebody, who you intend to hire as a sub-contractor, win the contract and even be cheaper!
There are other variations on the theme.
Peter Wardle
Sub-contracting goes on a lot in archaeology and thus this situation can arise. With the rise of freelancers ie individuals working for other archaeological companies I can envisage the sorts of situations that give rise to this. This is particularly so when freelancers are also working directly for a client.
As a deliberate move to ask for a quote in order to find out the price when there is no intent to sub-contract from them is sharp practice.
To ring up with the intent to sub contract and find you are both bidding for the same job is acceptable provided the two firms do not seek to fix the price in favour of one of them (this would be illegal).
It is also perfectly possible to bid against somebody, who you intend to hire as a sub-contractor, win the contract and even be cheaper!
There are other variations on the theme.
Peter Wardle