Compliments to the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (and A Trip Down Memory Lane)

The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice recently marked the fifth anniversary of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) with a celebration held in the Great Hall of the Department of Justice. The event featured speeches by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and Strike Force Director Dan Glad. “Since its inception in November 2019, the PCSF has opened more than 145 criminal investigations and trained over 39,000 individuals. In that time, the PCSF and the Antitrust Division have secured more than 60 guilty pleas and trial convictions and have investigated and prosecuted over 85 companies and individuals, involving more than $575 million in government contracts and kickbacks.”

Detecting and prosecuting procurement collusion in government contracts is a critical focus of the Antitrust Division and its partners for several reasons. Unlike private sector procurement agents, government buyers often operate under strict bidding regulations, limiting their flexibility. This makes government contracts prime targets for bid rigging and other collusive practices. While price-fixing schemes generally impact large groups of consumers and lead to civil class action suits, bid rigging directly harms the government and undermines public confidence in how taxpayer dollars are spent. Prosecuting such corruption provides significant professional satisfaction for staff—prosecutors, paralegals, and others involved—while also offering invaluable trial experience for many Antitrust Division attorneys.

As an antitrust veteran, I’m reminded that prosecuting bid rigging in government procurement is far from a new development. When I joined the Antitrust Division in 1980, I quickly became involved in one of the Division’s most extensive procurement fraud efforts—prosecuting road construction bid-rigging cases. These cases, pursued nationwide, were among the first in what came to be known as “way of life” government procurement prosecutions. At that time, Antitrust Division attorneys typically conducted investigations independently. However, during the road construction cases, prosecuted across all seven field offices (as well as the Criminal Section in Washington, D.C.), we partnered closely with investigative agencies like the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General’s Office. This collaboration was both valuable and educational.

Over the years, government procurement cases have resulted in a significant number of prosecutions across markets such as electrical and mechanical contracting, school milk programs, school E-rate initiatives, and government auctions. Between 1990 and 2000, the Antitrust Division averaged 63 criminal case filings annually, many of which stemmed from government procurement investigations…

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