Construction has been the target of a number of recent bid-rigging probes
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is trialling the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in an effort to tackle bid-rigging.
The watchdog has piloted a new tool which uses AI to scrape large-scale data to identify which public procurement markets are at 鈥渟ignificant risk鈥� of corrupt practices.
Construction has been a focus for CMA investigations around bid-rigging in recent years, with a major probe into demolition firms finding widespread malpractice in 2023.
鈥淲e know that procurement markets are at significant risk of bid-rigging,鈥� Sarah Cardell, head of the Competition and Markets Authority, told the Financial Times newspaper.
鈥淲e鈥檝e now got the capability to be able to scan data at scale, bidding data at scale, to spot anomalies in that bidding data and to identify areas of potential anti-competitive conduct.鈥�
She told the newspaper that a pilot programme in one government department was 鈥減roving quite successful鈥�.
Last month, the agency announced a new bid-rigging probe relating to the Department for Education鈥檚 Condition Improvement Fund, which is awarded annually to schools with buildings in poor condition.
After unannounced inspections of several businesses, the CMA said it believed that a number of firms providing roofing and construction services, including contractors and technical advisors, were illegally colluding to secure contracts.
In March 2023, the CMA fined 10 demolition firms a total of nearly 拢60m for their involvement in bid-rigging following a years-long probe.
Five firms were also found guilty of making and receiving so-called 鈥榗ompensation payments鈥�.
No comments yet