MOSCOW OFAS CAUGHT FIVE COMPANIES IN A COURTYARD AMENITIES CARTEL

FAS opened a case against “TSK Optima” Ltd.,   “UNI” JSC, “Stroidvor” Ltd., “UNI-DOM” Managing Company” Ltd. and “Tvoi Dom” Ltd. upon elements of a cartel in the course of 42 electronic auctions.

The companies took part in auctions organized by “Zhilishcnik” State Budgetary Institution and Municipal Council of several Moscow Districts for the works on public amenities in courtyards. The overall initial (maximum) contract price on all contracts was 170.5 million RUB.

Taking part in the auctions, “TSK Optima” Ltd., “UNI” JSC, “Stroidvor” Ltd., “UNI-DOM” Managing Company” Ltd. and “Tvoi Dom” Ltd.filed several price bids, and then simply refused to compete with each other. As a result, price reduction was from 1.0% to 5.0% of initial (maximum) contract price. Out of 42 auctions, “TSK Optima” Ltd. won 8 auctions in total for 19.6 million RUB, “UNI” JSC won 22 auctions in total for 113.9 million RUB, “Stroidvor” Ltd. won 7 auctions in total for 13.7 million RUB, while “Tvoi Dom” Ltd.won 5 auctions in total for 19.8 million RUB.

Head of Moscow OFAS Armen Khanyan commented: “We must state than a lion’s share of cartels are formed in public procurement. Accordingly, it has a pernicious effect upon saving budgetary funds to achieve the goals. It is necessary to implement a system of cartel prevention, particularly, employing digital tools”.

Anticompetitive agreements are punishable under Part 2 Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations: administrative fines up to 50% of the initial contract value for legal entities and up to 50,000 RUB for top-executives.