The meaning of "Be awarded" ?

Question

Please look at this question
The contract is likely to be awarded to _________ advertising agency offers the lowest.

(1) whichever (2) whomever

Its correct answer is (A)whichever. I couldn't possibly understand the purpose of this question.
[Q1] Why didn't questioner use "article" in front of noun,"advertising agency" ?
I think the advertising agency,an advertising agency,or any advertising agency should be written. Can't we count the number of agencies ?
[Q2] I can agree that its correct answer is (1)whichever.
But, I couldn't understand what the sentence means. Could you teach me the meaning of "be awarded" in the sentence ? It's the similar meaning as "be given" ?
"The contract is awarded to something?" ..... I couldn't understand its meaning.

Thank you for your kind explanation in advance.

Cynthia3754 · Accepted Answer

Son James, you are such a delight. I appreciate your confusion. You are correct in your initial assessment of the sentence.

The contract is likely to be awarded to whichever advertising agency offers the lowest.

The use of whomever in the sentence would be incorrect, because whomever would be used to represent a person, not an institution or company.

Now let's see if we can give you a better picture of how exactly we use whichever.

For example, in The United States we have government agencies that are required to request prices from several businesses, before they can get work done or make a purchase. Frequently there are several businesses that want our government's money, so they place what we call "bids" on the work or product they will provide. None of the businesses knows what the other is bidding, so it is more or less like a contest. Whichever one gets the lowest bid wins the business, thus the contract is awarded to them.

In the above example, whichever is referring to an unknown number of businesses, but it can also be as little as two.

Whichever one of you climbs the tree the fastest will win two tickets to the barn dance on Saturday night.

Let's say we are waiting on a corner looking at five taxicabs. They are all facing us having to reach us by going through traffic. Which of those taxi's is going to be first to arrive? Whichever one is first you will use. Whichever means that you don't really care if it is the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth taxi. What is important that it is first.

Whichever one is the first.

Son James · Answer

ha,ha,ha...sometimes I think I'm so silly man

.....Thank you so much for your answer. I can clearly know it.
"whichever advertising agency"....it is a noun phrase.... no need article due to whichever.....Now I can't believe myself how I could think like that before. Thanks again,Ms.Cynthia

Cynthia3754 · Answer

Your appreciation is such a blessing for me.  Thank you.

Son James · Answer

every your words has been impressing to me,Thanks once again.Ms.Cynthia<img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/10.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/10.gif' alt='Emotion: embarrassed'/>

The meaning of "Be awarded" ?

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