Tomasz Chróstny, President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), issued two decisions on bid rigging, in which he imposed fines in the total amount of approx. PLN 330,000. Entrepreneurs tried to influence the result of public procurement for the maintenance of green areas in the province. Lubuskie and the transport of people in the province. Silesian organized by local governments.
“The anti-monopoly law prohibits bid rigging, i.e. agreeing the terms of submitted bids by entrepreneurs joining a tender. The negative effect of such agreements is higher costs of public tasks, and thus losses for the Polish economy,” said Chróstny.
The most common of unlawful practices in public procurement is the agreed resignation from the conclusion of the contract by the winner of the tender in order to select the second, more expensive participant of the collusion. The President of UOKiK issued two decisions in which he stated that this was the way entrepreneurs acted.
The first one concerns tenders for the provision of tree felling, planting and care services, carried out in 2018-2020 by the Provincial Road Authority in Zielona Góra. The tender collusion was concluded by: Firma Usługowo-Transportowo-Hardwareowa “Zśmie – Dźwig” from Żagań and Przedsiębiorstwo Usługowo-Handlowe “M&M” from Bolesławiec. The President of UOKiK imposed fines on entrepreneurs in the total amount of PLN 131,140.
The second decision concerns participants in tenders for the transport of disabled people, children and adolescents to schools and educational institutions organized by the Siemianowice Śląskie commune. The President of UOKiK stated that an agreement restricting competition had been concluded between two entrepreneurs from Chorzów operating under the companies Jojko Dariusz and Mikosz Mirosław. The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection imposed penalties in the total amount of PLN 198,577 on the participants of the collusion.
The decisions are not final and the entrepreneurs appealed against them to the court. The maximum penalty for participation in an agreement restricting competition may amount to 10% of the entrepreneur’s turnover achieved in the year preceding the issuance of the decision.
Source: UOKiK and ISBnews
