Many organizations, both government and private, use competitive bidding processes to make sure they get the best goods and services for the best prices. The Sherman Act and other antitrust laws prohibit any agreement among competitors to fix prices, "rig" bids or engage in other anti-competitive activity. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice enforce antitrust laws.

Explore the resources provided below to learn more about these laws and the steps you should take to ensure that your business is compliant.

Basic Information

• Plain English Guide to Antitrust Laws
  Offers an easy-to-follow guide to antitrust laws, how they can benefit consumers and how they can affect you if you operate a business.

• Understanding Fair Business Practices
  Provides an SBA guide to understanding fair business practices and staying in compliance with antitrust laws.

• Antitrust Compliance Assistance for Business
  Offers antitrust compliance resources to businesses.

• Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Competition
  Explains the FTC's Bureau of Competition, which seeks to prevent business practices that restrain competition. This site includes all the regulatory information concerning the enforcement of antitrust laws by the FTC.

• Competition in the Health Care Marketplace
  Lists frequently asked advertising questions and answers, and provides compliance guides, fact sheets, policy statements, and staff comments on various advertising issues.

Today, competitive forces are driving firms toward complex collaborations to achieve goals such as expanding into foreign markets, funding innovation efforts, and lowering production and other costs. The Department of Justice and the FTC provide Antitrust Guidelines for Collaborations Among Competitors to aid businesses in collaborating without violating antitrust laws.

Mergers and Acquisitions

• Business Mergers Best Practices
  Contains FTC guide to best practices for conducting business mergers and acquisitions.

• Competition and Antitrust Statutes
  Provides a guide to all federal antitrust laws affecting mergers and acquisitions and enforced by the FTC.

• Merger Consent Order Provisions: FAQs
  Lists answers to commonly asked questions about merger remedies.

• Pre-Merger/Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act
  Provides assistance to businesses seeking information about when and how to submit HSR pre-merger filings.