OMSK OFAS SIMULTANEOUSLY EXPOSED TWO CARTELS IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

Omsk OFAS opened two cases on violating Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” in course of road repair tenders

The competition authority suspects that “StroiTrust” Ltd., “Lev+” Ltd. and “Antares” Ltd. were involved in bid-rigging behaviour tendering for repair of the 22 km segment of Omsk - Muromtsevo - Sedelnikovo Highway.

The respondents in the second case are bidders for reconstructing the road approach to Kipo-Kulary village, the Tevriz District, the Omsk region:  “Transstroi”, “StroiTorg” and “Alliance”.

In both cases the biding behaviour pattern of the respondents was identical: two of the agreement participants, whose bids were later rejected upon considering the second part, deliberately disoriented bona fide procurement participants, decreasing considerably the initial maximum contract prices. The third agreement participants became the procurement winner who concluded the contract at the price close to the initial price.

According to the preliminary estimate of Omsk OFAS, the total sum of the contracts concluded on the basis of two anticompetitive agreements exceeded 100 million RUB.

“Road construction decartelization is one of FAS priorities, formalized in the Order given by the President of the Russian Federation; and cases of Omsk OFAS are striking examples of the efforts in this direction", stated Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department Andrey Tenishev.