Comparing info and such like when tendering for work is illegal under the Competition Act. Those caught could at worse be jailed or have their assetts siezed. Firms are not allowed to collude on any aspect of tendering. You have to sign a document to that effect when you submit the tender.
I belong to a couple of trade bodies in the psv and ph industries and that is made clear whenever pricing is mentioned.
I make sure I only work for my price, which happens to be in excess of £1 a mile for all mileage when I'm doing school work. anyone working for less than that is as I said earlier, subsidising the local council.
Kent county council tried running their own buses, taxis, employement agency, and school supplies service under an arm's length trading company. It was heavily subsidised by the ratepayers, even though this was for several years hidden in the accounts. with the latest cuts, they've now been sussed and the bus and taxi businesses were the first to go.
On the basis that they were being "overcharged" by the taxi and bus operators, and KCC would "control2 the prices it paid for services; that in itself is illegal and anti-competitive.