The very essence of sealed competitive bidding is the submission of independent, self-contained bids, to the fair compliance with which not only the owner but the other bidders are entitled. As the Appellate Division observed, to *936 give effect to this or any similar bidding practice in which the dollar amount of one bid was tied to the bid or bids of another or others in the same bidding would be to recognize means whereby effective sealed competitive bidding could be wholly frustrated. In the context of such bidding, therefore, a submission by one bidder of a bid dependent for its definition on the bids of others is invalid and unacceptable as inconsistent with and potentially destructive of the very bidding in which it is submitted. On the only other occasion a similar ploy appears to have received judicial attention, over 80 years ago, it was likewise rejected (South Hetton Coal Co. v Haswell, Shotton & Easington Coal & Coke Co., CA 1898, 1 Ch 465).