Bid Rigging is a fraud; i.e. a procurement process scam. Simply put, when Bid Rigging occurs in a tender exercise, a buyer is cheated from obtaining goods or services at the best possible price or value proposition.

Consequently, Bid Rigging is not permitted by Law. For example, apart from criminal sanctions under the Penal Code and the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 the Competition Act 2010 too institutes serious penalties for such infringement – whereby an infringing enterprise can be fined up to 10% of its WORLDWIDE TURNOVER.

Recent global enforcement actions targeting Bid Rigging cartels have resulted in substantial fines, damages from private actions and even criminal sanctions against individuals leading to imprisonment. Similarly in Malaysia, crackdown against Bid Rigging is one of the priority enforcement objectives for the Malaysia Competition Commission (MyCC). Needless to say, there is the accompanying reputational damage and disruption to business operations.

But what about joint bids? Can such joint venturing lead to allegations of Bid Rigging?

To avoid unwanted and unhappy brushes with sanctions or penalties, companies therefore should assess the risk associated with its business practices, adopt proactive detection methods to detect collusion and take steps to increase compliance with the law.

An overview of the talk will cover the following areas:

× What is Bid Rigging? What are the types of Bid Rigging?

× How do you minimize the risk of Bid Rigging when submitting joint bids?

× What steps should you undertake (as a tenderer and a procurer) to reduce the risk of Bid Rigging?

× How is Bid Rigging different from corruption in public procurement? × How should a sound compliance program be structured?

× Discussion on Bid Rigging case studies