A system and method for promoting competitive bidding in an online auction that has a bidder, a favored bidder, and a sponsor, including receiving bids from the bidder and the favored bidder, deriving a relative spread, determining a market position for the bidder and the favored bidder, and displaying feedback information to at least one of the favored bidder or the bidder. The relative spread represents a minimum premium amount required before the sponsor awards a contract to a non-favored bidder. The market position reflects a comparison of the bid of the favored bidder to the bid of the bidder using the relative spread and the feedback information shows the market position.