A few months ago we were part of a public bid where we help with the initial system design. We had even put in the first dozen or so video systems. Needless to say a month or two before the bid came out we registered the products.
We ended up winning the bid and after who manufactures were telling me stories about other integrators calling them up and saying they specified the job or plain out threatening them that they would protest if they didn't give them preferred pricing.
Is this a common occurrence? I know it is not something I would ever do. My attitude on public bids is if it comes out and I don't already know about it I probably won't win it.