5.2.1 Advantages of a Competitive Sale
The issuer’s ultimate goal in a financing is to protect the public’s interest by obtaining the lowest possible overall borrowing cost. The main advantage of a competitive sale is competitive pricing of the bonds among underwriters. Because the public agency will sell the bonds upon the terms of the best qualifying bid (i.e., the bid that offers the lowest overall debt service cost to the public agency, in addition to any other specified factors), bidders have an incentive to offer the lowest cost bid.