Two Singaporean interior fit-out companies, Flex Connect and Tarkus Interiors, were fined nearly S$10 million for colluding on bids for commercial projects over a five-year period. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) found that the companies engaged in bid-rigging, providing pricing and other details to each other to ensure one company secured the contract.
The two companies - Flex Connect and Tarkus Interiors - colluded to provide bid details to the other firm, allowing one of them to submit a higher bid to stand a better chance of securing projects. For colluding in high-value tenders in order to secure projects, two interior fit-out contractors were penalised nearly S$10 million (US$7.3 million) by Singapore's competition regulator, the most severe such penalty to date.
Flex Connect and Tarkus Interiors, both of which handle interior decoration and finishing works for commercial properties, were found to have engaged in bid-rigging conduct. They were penalised S$4,885,263 and S$5,113,918 respectively. Both firms rigged bids over a five-year period, from August 2016 to August 2021, affecting 12 tenders with between S$187,000 and S$7.7 million in value, said the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) on Friday (Dec 20).The tenders were related to establishments such as retail spaces, food and beverage outlets, and offices. These included PURE Fitness at Ocean Financial Centre, Citibank at Changi Business Park, Oracle at Mapletree Business City, Ernst & Young’s premise at 77 Robinson Road and Hans im Gluck at Boat Quay and VivoCity. To rig bids, one of the firms - designated the winner - would provide bid pricing and other details to the other firm, which would then submit a higher bid to give the'winning' firm a better chance of securing the tender. This, said CCCS, was how the pair eliminated competitive pressure that would have resulted in them submitting best offers to customers. 'As a result of the conduct, potential customers were not able to receive truly competitive offers from (the two businesses), thus potentially overpaying for these tenders,' said CCCS, which has handled seven bid-rigging cases to date, including thi
BID-RIGGING SINGAPORE FINES COMPETITION INTERIOR DESIGN
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