Auctions & Competitive Bidding

CRA develops auctions and other market designs that are tailored to our client’s situation.

• Confirm your objectives and desired outcomes
• Design the items, products, assets, and contracts you want to sell or purchase
• Assess likely bidders and their characteristics
• Design an optimal bidding mechanism based on proven theoretical foundations and practical experience with real markets and transactions – the “science” and “art” of successful bidding designs
• Formalize clear, comprehensive rules that will describe the bidding process, encourage competitive participation, and prevent gaming

CRA has implemented and managed hundreds of successful trading events with transaction values ranging from hundreds of thousands to billions of dollars.

CRA develops detailed implementation plans that include tasks, responsibilities, and the timeline. Depending on your needs, we can assume responsibility for document preparation, marketing and promotion, communications protocols, stakeholder consultations, information websites, bidder information sessions, data rooms, bidder registration and qualification, customized trading platform software such as our Auction Management System, demos, mock auctions, training, and hosting services for auctions and other trading events. We conduct trading events in several languages.

CRA provides independent analysis and monitoring of auctions and market mechanisms.

We facilitate the entire process, improving the design and implementation of the market mechanism to ensure that it is conducted in accordance with your expectations and requirements. We can be involved from the initial stages through conclusion and provide a final report that includes an assessment of the process and the outcome as well as recommendations for improvements.

CRA provides auction and market participants with strategic advice and other valuable support services prior to and during the auction process.

Depending on specific needs, we prepare participants for bidding processes through some or all of the following:

• Analyzing bidding mechanisms and rules and providing comments to the auctioneer or market administrator in support of our client
• Conducting financial analyses and valuation of the assets or products being offered
• Presenting seminars on auction and game theory, bidding strategies, and their practical applications
• Analyzing the specific market mechanism and rules and the implications and opportunities they provide
• Assessing competitors, including their likely strategies
• Assisting with the application and bidder qualification process
• Providing a logistics and operations plan and the support needed to be an effective participant with the optimal resources
• Assisting bidders in mock auctions and providing auction software training
• Customizing bid-tracking software tools to facilitate interpretation of bidding data and bidding behavior
• Providing advice on optimal bidding strategies and bids
• Monitoring and analyzing competitors’ bids and behavior

CRA develops and customizes software applications, systems, trading platforms, and tools used to manage auctions and trading events and to support bidders and other participants.

Auction and trading platforms: CRA’s auction and trading platforms comprise public information websites and secure administration, bidding, and monitoring websites that facilitate a complete, multi-lingual, integrated solution for our clients.

Site hosting: CRA has hosted hundreds of auctions and trading events for various industries. Our trading events use a dedicated facility and resources, including secure IT, network, and telecommunications systems, and they support hundreds of bidders per event simultaneously in numerous time zones. We also provide a multilingual help desk.

Bid Tracking Tool (BTT): Bidders use CRA’s BTT software to collect, analyze, and interpret real-time auction data. The BTT facilitates analysis of other bidders’ actions to optimize the client’s bidding strategy. The BTT can be used through a web browser or a desktop application.

CRA delivers expert regulatory and litigation services in disputes and other matters involving auction and other bidding mechanisms.

• Expert witness and other litigation support
• Analysis of bidding mechanism design
• Analysis of bidding rules and procedures
• Analysis of bids
• Assessment of bidding competition
• Assessment of the conduct of the overall process
• Data analysis