UK agency fines 103 firms for bid-rigging
LONDON (AP) - Britain's competition watchdog yesterday said it has imposed fines totalling £129.5 million ($211 million) on 103 construction companies that it said colluded in bidding for contracts.
Eighty-six of the 103 companies were given lower penalties because they admitted their involvement in bid rigging, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said.
The agency said it discovered the practice, also known as cover pricing, in bidding for 199 projects between 2000 and 2006.
In these cases, some contractors submitted inflated bids that were intended to let a competitor gain the contract. In 11 cases, the office said, the low bidder faced no competition at all because all the other bids had been inflated.
The agency said it also discovered six instances in which the successful bidder had paid kickbacks of between £2,500 and £60,000 to unsuccessful bidders.
The violations were found in both public and private construction projects, the agency said.
Kier Group, based in Sandy, England, was assessed the biggest fine, £17.9 million. It said it was considering its position regarding the OFT decision.
"Kier is totally committed to ensuring that the practice of cover pricing and anti-competitive behavior more generally is totally driven out of the construction industry," the company said.
Interserve Project Services Ltd., a subsidiary of Interserve plc., was fined £11.6 million. Interserve made no immediate comment.
Mansell, a subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc., was fined £5.2 million, representing a 50 percent reduction because of co-operation with the investigation. Balfour Beatty said the violations occurred before its acquisition of Mansell in 2003.