Abstract

The supreme principles of the public procurement system is the principles of preserving fair competition and ensuring equal treatment of participants.

Their observance in public procurement proceedings is guarded by the contracting authority. The price fight for getting a public procurement contract is frequently unfair. The practice of applying the public procurement law shows that public procurement contractors conclude anti-competitive tender agreements in order to influence the result of a public procurement proceedings. The purpose or effect of tender agreements is to limit, eliminate or otherwise violate competition in the relevant market. Bid rigging consists in agreeing on the terms of bids submitted in the proceedings, which may assume various forms, and the mechanism of their conclusion may vary as well. Agreements concerning the terms of bids submitted and agreements concerning the conduct of contractors should be distinguished. The participation of contractors in public procurement proceedings may also assume a qualified form of a bidding consortium and placing of separate bids by related entities (member of the same group). In case related contractors take part in the proceedings it is necessary to analyze in detail the grounds for the participation of those entities in the proceedings, its purpose, and to evaluate of their conduct. Their participation in the proceedings not always means bid rigging. Contractors may operate within one economic organism, which excludes the anti-competitive nature of their participation in public procurement proceedings.