The President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection has issued two decisions concerning bid rigging. In the cases cited, entrepreneurs attempted to influence the outcome of public procurements organized by local governments.
The first case concerned public procurement for greenery maintenance, while the second concerned passenger transport. In this context it is worth recalling that entities competing for public procurement contracts may not agree their bids with other entrepreneurs. Collusion results in higher costs of performing public tasks, and therefore losses for the economy.
Both the first and the second bid rigging boiled down to the fact that the entity that was selected as offering the most favorable terms of cooperation ultimately withdrew from signing the contract. In such a way the self-government chose the more expensive proposal.
Last year, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued five decisions on bid rigging and initiated 26 such proceedings. The most common illegal practice is the above mentioned agreed withdrowal from concluding a contract by the winner – in 2021 there were two such actions by entrepreneurs. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed penalties of almost PLN 330 thousand on the participants of these collusive practices – in the amount of over PLN 131 thousand and almost PLN 200 thousand respectively.
In order to more effectively detect bid rigging, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection cooperates with the Public Procurement Office.
