Milk Contract Bid-Rigging

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) actions to address the problem of bid-rigging on milk contracts for federal child nutrition programs. GAO noted that: (1) a USDA task force is conducting investigations to determine whether corporations or individuals indicted for bid-rigging should be debarred; (2) as long as USDA continues its current level of effort, additional legislation against bid-rigging is not needed; (3) USDA and the Department of Justice have improved their coordination and information-sharing to ensure that USDA is promptly aware of bid-rigging indictments and convictions; (4) Justice has developed a training module on bid-rigging awareness that USDA has included in its procurement seminars; and (5) most bid-rigging cases involve dairy products, with only 6 out of 118 cases involving nondairy products.