A state Department of Transportation (DOT) recently claimed that each of five bidders received equal consideration in the awarding of two road construction contracts and that, in fact, the two contract recipients were randomly selected from among the five bidders. Three of the bidders were large construction conglomerates and two were small specialty contractors. Suppose that both contracts were awarded to large construction conglomerates.
a. What is the probability of this event occurring if, in fact, the DOT’s claim is true?
b. Is the probability computed in part a inconsistent with the DOT’s claim that the selection was random?