Public Procurement Service Detects Bid Rigging Among Firms for 'Mu-gi Eungjipje' and Imposes Bidding Restrictions

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] On the 19th, the Public Procurement Service announced that it has imposed a 6-month bidding participation restriction on two companies that colluded in the second-stage competitive bidding for multiple supplier contracts of inorganic coagulants used by public institutions.

Inorganic coagulants are raw materials used for scoring and wastewater treatment. The companies caught were found to have colluded in a total of 29 bids from May 2014 to the present.

The collusion was carried out by the two companies drafting a prior agreement and agreeing on the expected winning bidder, among other arrangements.

The Public Procurement Service detected suspicious signs of collusion through its Collusion Statistical Analysis System and requested an investigation from the Fair Trade Commission, which uncovered the collusive behavior of the companies involved.

Kim Jeong-woo, head of the Public Procurement Service, stated, “We will continue to strictly sanction collusive acts that undermine fair competition in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.”

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