Court Upholds HUD Reverse Auction

In MTB Group, Inc, v, United States, No. 05-375C, June 7, 2005, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims refused to enjoin HUD's reverse auctioning program used to receive bids on property inspections. The court's opnion discusses the release of pricing information and offers some insight as to how reverse auctions may be properly conducted. For example, HUD's program showed only the bid per lot and not by individual property. The program also did not disclose the identity of the bidders.
The court concluded:

Ultimately, plaintiff has not shown that HUD’s reverse auction procedure violates statute or an applicable procurement regulation, nor that HUD acted unreasonably in adopting it. While plaintiff disfavors the reverse auction procedure, plaintiff does not prevail on the merits of the case. Plaintiff’s argument is based on the assumption that competitors will be able to infer protected information from their competition. Such an inference is not sustainable.