The OECD, in collaboration with the European Commission, has launched a project this week focused on strengthening the detection and reporting of cartel agreements among public procurement suppliers, specifically targeting bid rigging. Six European countries, including the Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, and Portugal, are participating in this initiative, with the Czech Republic represented by the Office for the Protection of Competition.

Bid rigging is a form of anticompetitive agreement where bidders for a public contract coordinate to determine who will win the contract, leading to higher prices, lower quality of goods and services, and negative impacts on public budgets and services.

The main goal of the project is to enhance compliance with competition rules in public procurement through various means, including training for public procurement officials on detecting bid rigging, improving reporting mechanisms, and strengthening cooperation between competition authorities and law enforcement agencies.

The project will be implemented through workshops for procurement officials, judges, and other stakeholders in each participating country. Additionally, e-learning resources will be created for public procurement staff, along with templates for reporting suspected collusion in procurement processes. A final report will summarize best practices and recommendations.

The initial workshop of the project took place this week in Paris, with two seminars planned in the Czech Republic for the following year. Petra Košťálová from the Czech competition authority attended the workshop.