UOKiK suspects collusion in road tenders
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The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has initiated proceedings against two companies. It is to clarify whether there was a price collusion in tenders for road construction and repairs.
10 tenders
The Authority checks two companies involved in road construction and repair to clarify whether their activities had an impact on the results of the procurement contracts. The procedure concerns Star Budowa z Chybic (Swietokrzyskie Province) and Aglet (Warsaw). UOKiK suspects that these companies have influenced the results of nearly 10 tenders for road repairs organized by the Świętokrzyskie municipalities. The value of orders in these tenders ranged from several dozen to several hundred thousand zloty.
Marek Niechcial, the President of the Office for Competition and Consumer Protection, quoted in the communique, informed that a search had taken place at the premises of both companies and evidence had been found indicating that prohibited agreements could have been reached. Entrepreneurs could apply an illegal mechanism for setting up and withdrawing offers.
Prohibited mechanism
The forbidden action was to consist in the fact that in a situation where the proposals of two companies turned out to be the most advantageous in a given tender, the winner resigned from signing the contract. UOKIK suspects that this was a deliberate activity aimed at leading to the selection of a more expensive offer. The behaviour of these companies was different in the situation when they did not occupy subsequent positions according to prices. At that time, they did not give up signing the contract, but delivered the missing documents and carried out the order.
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) informed that the application of competition-restricting practices is subject to a financial penalty of up to 10% of turnover.
