Proprietary Information Cost of Contracting with the Government

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: He, Jiapeng; Li, Kevin; Li, Ningzhong; Zhang, Weining
• 署名单位: Chinese University of Hong Kong; Santa Clara University; University of Texas System; University of Texas Dallas
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826
• DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2022-0351
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 195-227
• 关键词: CORPORATE DISCLOSURE; TRADE SECRETS; procurement; TRANSPARENCY; prescription; performance; COMPETITION; price

摘要

We argue that contracting with the federal government involves significant proprietary information cost due to regulations requiring contractors to provide proprietary information, which may become available to outsiders via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. We provide evidence by showing that firms become more willing to bid for government contracts after a recent Supreme Court ruling on FOIA (Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media) that improved information protection for contractors and that this effect strengthens when the contracts entail higher proprietary information cost for contractors.