Treasury notes and bonds of various maturities are issued periodically
through discriminatory price auctions. The Treasury announces the quantities
of notes and bonds of different maturities that will be sold in upcoming
auctions and accepts competitive and noncompetitive tenders until 1:00 P.M.
eastern standard time on the auction date. The competitive bidders, mainly
designated primary dealers4 and commercial banks, submit bids for yieldquantity
pairs. The noncompetitive bidders submit tenders for quantities that
they are willing to purchase at the quantity-weighted price of the accepted
competitive bids. Bidders other than the primary dealers and commercial
banks are required to deposit 2 percent of the amount bid along with their
tenders. These deposits do not earn interest and may be held for up to two
weeks. Therefore, the deposit requirement makes it costly for many investors
to bid directly and provides incentives for them to bid through the primary
dealers. In addition to these bidders, the Fed also places a noncompetitive bid
for a quantity announced prior to the auction.