TWO companies have been fined up to 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) for fraudulent tendering and 10 people involved have been stripped of their status as experts.This is the first time that so many experts have been punished for dereliction of duty in the tendering process, officials with the municipal construction bureau said Tuesday.Two tendering companies, China Huxi Co. Ltd and Shenzhen Jianye Construction Project Co. Ltd were found to have colluded with each other in a bidding for a building complex.The two companies were each fined 100,000 yuan and the representatives of the two companies were each fined 10,000 yuan.The five economic experts and five technical experts were also found responsible because they turned a blind eye to the obvious similarities in the tender bids presented by the two companies.The 10 people have been deprived of their status as experts and will no longer be hired as tender experts, officials said.