The Bundeskartellamt, Germany's competition authority, has imposed fines totaling 10.5 million euros on seven road repair companies for their involvement in illegal cartel agreements. The companies, including AS Asphaltstraßensanierung GmbH and Bitunova GmbH, were found to have engaged in bid rigging and customer allocation over several years, undermining fair competition in public contracting.

According to Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, these companies systematically assigned public contracts for road repairs to one another. They agreed in advance on which company would win specific tenders and submitted protective bids to ensure the desired outcomes. This collusion not only harms public contracting authorities but also affects taxpayers who ultimately bear the costs of such illegal agreements.

From 2018 to 2019, certain companies allocated contracting authorities in Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt among themselves, using coded language to communicate their arrangements. They met regularly to discuss tenders and agreed on minimum prices for their bids, effectively eliminating competition in the bidding process.

The violations involved numerous public tenders for road repairs and related services, with contract values typically ranging from 40,000 euros to 200,000 euros. The Bundeskartellamt's investigation included a dawn raid in September 2019, conducted in collaboration with public prosecution offices and criminal police.

In determining the fines, the authority considered the cooperation of Bitunova GmbH under the leniency program. The decisions regarding the fines are final, and a case summary will be published on the Bundeskartellamt's website soon.