The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced the formation of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force, which will focus on one of the DOJ’s top priorities: protecting public funds from bid rigging and fraud. As DOJ’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Enforcement stated in a speech just before the announcement, it is DOJ’s view that public procurement is “particularly vulnerable to collusion” because the predictable and repetitive nature of the procurement process, and the availability of few qualified sellers for any given procurement render the system particularly susceptible to manipulation. The Strike Force, therefore, seeks to deter, detect, investigate and prosecute antitrust crimes, such as bid-rigging conspiracies and related fraudulent schemes, which undermine competition in government procurement, grant, and program funding.
For more information on the DOJ Procurement Collusion Strike Force, see our advisory.