The HCC is participating in a project led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) aimed at combating bid rigging in public procurement. This 2-year project, starting in September 2024, aims at helping countries improve bid-rigging prevention and detection mechanisms. The project is funded by the European Union through the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) and includes the Federal Competition Authority of Austria (BWB), the Commission for Protection of Competition Republic of Bulgaria (CPC), the Croatian Competition Agency (CCA) the Commission for the Protection of Competition of Cyprus and the Competition Council of Romania (RCC).

Bid rigging - a form of cartel where firms collude to manipulate  tender procedures for the award of contracts - is one of the most serious restrictions of competition law, undermines the integrity of public contracts and distorts market competition. The project outputs focus on raising awareness of the risks of bid rigging, increase compliance with competition law and promote competition in public contracts and include:

• Capacity building for the public and private sectors, through a series of workshops hosted in each of the beneficiary countries
• A report on good practices and lessons learnt in fighting bid rigging
• A training pack to support compliance with competition law in public contracts
• Suggestions for co-operation between competition authorities and contracting authorities and/or other public bodies in the same jurisdiction

 A kickoff event will take place on 23 September 2024 at the headquarters of the Croatian Competition Authority and on-line.

The first workshop to be held in Greece in January 2025 will aim at training representatives from the HSPPA and contracting authorities on topics such as bid-rigging forms, bid-rigging red flags and reporting mechanisms.

The project is an integral part of our broader strategy to fight bid rigging. The HCC has also issued a Guide for Contracting Authorities: Detecting and Preventing Collusive Practices in Public Procurement Procedures and introduced a dedicated digital whistleblowing system specifically designed for contracting authorities to report bid rigging in public procurement procedures .

We look forward to working with our peers on this project and the positive impact this project will have on the promotion of competition in public procurement.

More on this project can be found on the OECD website.