OREANDA-NEWS. May 31, 2013. The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Leningrad Region (Leningrad OFAS Russia) found that “Express” Ltd., “Astera” Ltd., and “StroiPlusService” Ltd. violated Clause 2 Part 1Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”.

Leningrad OFAS Russia established that the companies took part in a cartel agreement, which resulted in maintaining prices at the auctions for repair roads in Pudostsky and Elizavetinsky villages, Gatchina District, the Leningrad Region in Q III 2012. The total sum of the contracts was 9.5 million Rubles.

The cartel participants used the following strategy. In the first seconds of bidding, the future winner - “Express” Ltd. offered the minimum reduction of the initial (maximum) contract price. Next, “Astera” Ltd. and “StroiPlusService” Ltd. actively put bids against each other, pushing the price offer to such a low level that other bidders would find it to be not of economic benefit to continue bidding. For instance, at one of the auctions the price went down by 23% of the initial (maximum) price.

Then “Astera” Ltd. and “StroiPlusService” Ltd. became the formal winners of the auctions.

When the second parts of applications were considered, however, it appeared that “Astera” Ltd. and “StroiPlusService” Ltd. did not have the necessary documentation. In particular, they did not have a permit issued by a self-regulated organization, which was required by the ordering party. As a result the contract was concluded with “Express” Ltd., the price bid of which had the minimum reduction from the initial (maximum) price.

“The false competitors used a known tactics to make the “arranged” bidder win. We will carefully monitor such actions of bidders at electronic auctions”, emphasized the Head of Leningrad OFAS Russia, Vadim Vladimirov.

Reference:

Under Article 14.32 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Antimonopoly Violations, breaching Clause 2 Part 1Article 11 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” is punished by an administrative fine for the amount of ? of the sum of a lot, but no less than 100,000 Rubles.