Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined bid-rigging on school milk contracts, focusing on: (1) problems with agricultural laws or administration which allowed bid-rigging to occur; and (2) the possible influence of the Capper-Volstead Act on bid-rigging.

GAO found that: (1) milk contract bid rigging can be attributed to illegal business practices, but not legal deficiencies; (2) the Justice Department considers antitrust and bid-rigging legislation adequate; (3) federal price setting may facilitate collusion and bid-rigging; (4) limited exemptions under the Capper-Volstead Act create difficulties in prosecuting bid-rigging among dairy cooperatives; (5) federal dairy policy objectives include price and income supports, consumption expansion, quality control of the milk supply, and dairy price and market stabilization; (6) two programs which carry out federal dairy policy are the Milk Marketing Order Program and the price support program; (7) the Justice Department and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) have responsibility for oversight of agricultural cooperatives; (8) both Justice and USDA lack a formal process for sharing information and must rely on ad hoc methods for sharing bid-rigging information; (9) parties guilty of bid-rigging or collusion may be suspended or excluded from participating in federal contracts or federally funded programs; (10) USDA has failed to suspended any of the violators convicted of bid-rigging offenses; (11) bid-rigging awareness training for contracting officials can effectively identify and deter collusion and bid-rigging on a nationwide scale; and (12) USDA has provided bid-rigging awareness training for school procurement authorities and would like to expand training to other jurisdictions.

Status Legend:

Review Pending-GAO has not yet assessed implementation status.

Open-Actions to satisfy the intent of the recommendation have not been taken or are being planned, or actions that partially satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.

Closed-implemented-Actions that satisfy the intent of the recommendation have been taken.

Closed-not implemented-While the intent of the recommendation has not been satisfied, time or circumstances have rendered the recommendation invalid.

• Review Pending
• Open
• Closed - implemented
• Closed - not implemented

Recommendations for Executive Action

Recommendation: To enhance federal capabilities to identify and deter improper bid-rigging between dairy cooperatives, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Attorney General should develop a systematic process for coordinating and sharing information on dairy cooperatives suspected of illegal bidding on contracts.

Agency Affected: Department of Agriculture

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: USDA's Food and Nutrition Service and USDA's Capper-Volstead Act Committee are pursuing developing a more systematic process for sharing bid-rigging information with the Department of Justice.

Recommendation: To enhance federal capabilities to identify and deter improper bid-rigging between dairy cooperatives, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Attorney General should develop a systematic process for coordinating and sharing information on dairy cooperatives suspected of illegal bidding on contracts.

Agency Affected: Department of Justice

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: The Department of Justice is taking action to share information with USDA to deter bid-rigging activity. Specifically, DOJ will send monthly reports to USDA summarizing DOJ investigations and prosecutions involving the dairy industry.

Recommendation: With regard to individuals and companies convicted of or indicted for bid-rigging, the Secretary of Agriculture, as appropriate, should suspend or debar such individuals or companies from participating in school milk contracts or take other appropriate administrative action.

Agency Affected: Department of Justice

Status: Closed - Implemented

Comments: On July 21, 1993, USDA announced its first department action against a dairy that had been convicted of bid-rigging. USDA is currently reviewing several other cases for debarment.