Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (the UOKiK) has issued two decisions on illegal agreements in public procurement contracts. The first concerns a tender for the purchase and delivery of mobile fingerprint readers announced by the Central Headquarters of Poland’s Police Department (the KGP). The UOKiK’s analysis showed that the bidders, Relacontrol (at the time EAS Envimet Polska) and Unicom, had entered into an illegal agreement. With a view to helping EAS Envimet Polska win the tender, the companies jointly determined the price proposed by EAS Enviment Polska and also exchanged information on the price included in the competitive bid. In addition, Unicom did not pay a bid deposit, thereby being excluded from the tender. For participation in an agreement restricting competition, the UOKiK imposed a financial penalty on Relacontrol of nearly PLN 94,000 (PLN 93,749.52). The company has appealed to Poland’s Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. Unicom avoided sanctions because the company is in liquidation.

The second decision concerns tenders for the supply of uniform items organised by the Military Property Agency and Military Unit No. 4226 in Warsaw in 2011-2012. The UOKiK’s findings show that three companies—Agrotur from Pabianice, Marko from Borkowice and Zakład Pracy Chronionej Texpol from Dłutów—applied the mechanism of separation and withdrawal of tenders in four tenders. This practice involves companies arranging to present two different bids, and if it turns out that they are the two most favourable, the winner of the tender withdraws from consideration or deliberately does not submit the required documents so that the more expensive bid wins. In the case of the collusion between Agrotur, Marko and Texpol, the winner did not submit clarifications when asked to do so by the ordering party, nor supply the required documents. In addition, all of the companies’ bids were completed in similar handwriting, and for one tender they were submitted by the same person. Family relationships between the entities were thought to have played a role in the arrangements. A financial penalty totalling nearly PLN 298,000 was imposed on the enterprises, which have appealed to the Court of Competition and Consumer Protection. The decision is not final.

Additional information for the media:
UOKiK Spokesperson Małgorzata Cieloch
Pl. Powstańców Warszawy 1, 00-950 Warsaw
Phone.: 22 827 28 92, 55 60 314, 55 60 430
E-mail: [SCODE]bWFsZ29yemF0YS5jaWVsb2NoQHVva2lrLmdvdi5wbA==[ECODE]