• Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK, issued two decisions on bid rigging, in which he imposed penalties totalling nearly PLN 330,000.
• Entrepreneurs tried to affect the outcome of procurement procedures for greenery maintenance in the Lubuskie Voivodeship and passenger transport in the Śląskie Voivodeship organised by self-governments.
• Please be reminded that tenderers cannot agree their bids with other entrepreneurs.

"The Antitrust Law prohibits bid rigging,i.e. making arrangements between tenderers on the terms of their bids. Negative effects of this type of arrangements include higher costs of performing public tasks and thus losses for the Polish economy," says Tomasz Chróstny, the President of UOKiK.

In 2021, the President of the Office issued 5 decisions on bid rigging and initiated 26 proceedings. Moreover, as part of his market research, he analysed 22 tenders related to the management of European Union funds. The most common illegal practice in procurement procedures is to agree to refrain from concluding a contract by the winner of a tender in order for a more expensive participant, which was ranked second in the tender and was involved in bid-rigging, to be selected. The President of UOKiK issued two decisions indicating that entrepreneurs acted in this way.

The first one concerns tenders for the provision of tree felling, planting and care services carried out in 2018 - 2020 by Zarząd Dróg Wojewódzkich in Zielona Góra. The following entities were involved in bid rigging: Firma Usługowo-Transportowo-Sprzętowa "Zwyż - Dźwig" from Żagań (Lubuskie Voivodeship) and Przedsiębiorstwo Usługowo-Handlowe "M&M" from Bolesławiec (Dolnośląskie Voivodeship). The evidence gathered suggests that companies submitted incomplete bids. If a bid made by M&M was the most advantageous one, the entrepreneur did not complete its bid, which resulted in its rejection and caused the ordering party to select a more expensive bid made by Zwyż - Dźwig. The President of UOKiK imposed penalties on entrepreneurs in the total amount of over PLN 131,000 (PLN 131,140).

The second decision concerns participants in tenders for the transport of disabled persons and children as well as transport of children and young people to schools and educational institutions organised by the Siemianowice Śląskie Commune. The President of UOKiK confirmed the conclusion of a restrictive agreement between two entrepreneurs from Chorzów operating under the names of Jojko Dariusz and Mikosz Mirosław. In this case, the entity with the most advantageous bid also refrained from concluding a contract to force the self-government to select a more expensive bid. The President of UOKiK imposed penalties on the participants in bid rigging in the total amount of nearly PLN 200,000 (PLN 198,577).

The decisions are not final, the entrepreneurs have appealed against them in court. The maximum penalty for participation in a restrictive agreement may amount to 10% of the entrepreneur's turnover in the year preceding the issuance of the decision.

For bid rigging to be detected more effectively, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection cooperates with the Public Procurement Office. Due to the use of data on procurement procedures collected within eZamówienia system, it will be possible to identify illicit restrictive agreements more effectively.

The Office also runs a programme aimed at acquiring information from anonymous whistleblowers. Please visit https://konkurencja.uokik.gov.pl/sygnalista/ and fill in a simple form. The applied European system guarantees full anonymity, also towards the Office.

Additional information for the media:

UOKiK Press Office
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warszawa, Poland
Phone +48 695 902 088, +48 22 55 60 246
E-mail: biuroprasowe@uokik.gov.pl
Twitter: @UOKiKgovPL
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