OREANDA-NEWS. December 10, 2009. The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Belgorod region (the Belgorod OFAS Russia) concluded that actions of "Bite" Ltd. and "ELSI-Media Company" Ltd. in the open auction for supply of computer equipment to educational institutions in Belgorod; and actions of "Oskolvodstroi" CJSC (of Stary Oskol) and "Vodokanal" Municipal Unitary Enterprise (of Gubkin) in an auction for selecting the contractor for construction and assembly works for the project: "Construction of water supply networks for "Averino", the Gubkin District" had the signs of bid-rigging collusion (Clause 2 Part 1 Article 11 of the Federal Law "On Protection of Competition"), reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

If the antimonopoly violations are recognized, the violators can be imposed "turnover" fines under Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations.

Cases will be heard in January 2010.

To ensure proper control and supervision of compliance with the antimonopoly legislation, the Belgorod OFAS Russia and the State Procurement and Licensing Department of the Belgorod Region have established information exchange and cooperation towards discovering bid-rigging collusions.

Reference:
Bid-rigging collusions that can lead (lead) to increasing, reducing or maintaining prices at tenders or auctions is considered one of the most dangerous violations of the antimonopoly laws.

The antimonopoly authorities revealed multiple facts of bid-rigging collusions.

On 6th October 2009, the Altai Regional Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (OFAS Russia) established the fact of collusion between eight bidders for vegetables supply.

On 14th October 2009, the Tyumen OFAS Russia pronounced big-rigging collusion "SibUniversal" Production Commercial Firm" Ltd. and "Atlantis" Ltd. As a result of the actions of the bidders, the auction brought minimum saving to the Tyumen regional budget. The government contracts were signed at the price only 0.5 % below the initial maximum price.

On 2nd November 2009, the Sverdlovsk OFAS Russia pronounced that bribing of the auction bidders by the auction winner constituted collusion and issued a determination to "Agroremstroi" Ltd., "Monoplitstroi" Ltd. and "SPSMU-30" Ltd. to prevent further concerted actions preventing companies participation in competitive bidding.