DAEJEON — South Korea's Public Procurement Service said on Oct. 22 that it had asked the Fair Trade Commission to file a criminal complaint against one company and decided to claw back about 8.7 billion won ($6 million) in illicit gains from 34 firms caught engaging in unfair procurement practices such as violations of direct-production requirements, breaches of contract specifications and failure to honor preferential-pricing obligations, and requested that one firm be criminally referred for bid rigging.
The company referred to the Fair Trade Commission for criminal complaint had taken part in bidding for an underwater survey contract commissioned by the Korea Authority of Land & Infrastructure Safety, agreeing in advance on bid prices and price ranges to unfairly restrict competition. The agency said it weighed the gravity of the conduct, the duration of the collusion and the pattern of the behavior.
The 34 firms facing clawbacks were found to have committed unfair procurement practices across 22 product categories, including permeable concrete and air circulators, violating direct-production requirements, contract specifications and obligations to maintain preferential pricing.
The agency said it had already completed measures barring the firms from bidding on public contracts and, as a follow-up step, decided to recover a combined 8.7 billion won in illicit gains.
"We will mobilize every legal and administrative means available, including clawing back illicit gains and filing complaints, to build a fair and transparent procurement environment that the public can trust," said Kim Ji-wook, head of the Digital and Fair Procurement Bureau at the Public Procurement Service.