UK Watchdog Investigates Suspected Bid-Rigging in School Building Projects

The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched an investigation into alleged bid-rigging involving companies vying for contracts funded by a government initiative to improve school infrastructure. The regulator announced on Wednesday that several firms offering roofing and construction services may have engaged in illegal collusion to secure contracts under the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), according to Reuters.

The CMA revealed that it had conducted unannounced inspections of various business premises as part of its probe. The inspections aim to collect physical and digital evidence related to the alleged bid-rigging. However, the watchdog, led by Chief Executive Sarah Cardell, has not disclosed the identities of the companies under investigation. The regulator is collaborating with the Department for Education (DfE), which oversees the CIF.

The CIF, an annual government fund designed to address health and safety concerns and ensure compliance in school facilities, allocates significant resources to support schools with deteriorating infrastructure. Per Reuters, nearly £450 million was distributed in the latest round of funding, with a significant portion dedicated to roofing projects.

Juliette Enser, the CMA’s executive director of competition enforcement, emphasized that the bid-rigging investigation is in its early stages. “While no assumptions should be made that competition law has been broken at this early stage, we will be investigating this issue thoroughly,” she said. The regulator plans to review the gathered evidence to determine whether bid-rigging occurred and to decide on further actions, if necessary.

Should the investigation uncover violations of competition law, the CMA would issue a “statement of objections” outlining its concerns. The implicated companies would then have an opportunity to respond before any penalties are imposed. However, the CMA cautioned that no conclusions about wrongdoing should be drawn at this stage.

According to the CMA, public procurement, which constitutes roughly one-third of public spending, is particularly vulnerable to anti-competitive practices. The agency’s prior enforcement actions highlight the severity of such misconduct; last year, it issued fines totaling almost £60 million to firms involved in bid-rigging across public and private sectors.

Source: Reuters