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ARTICLE · 11 JANUARY 2017

No Bidding Around: The Competition Bureau Targets Bid-Riggers In 2017

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Public contracts constitute the majority of infrastructure projects in the country. With an expected increase in federal spending for such projects in 2017...

CanadaAntitrust/Competition Law
Graham Brown
Graham Brown
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Over the past few years, we have written and presented extensively about how Canada's Competition Bureau has cracked down on price-fixing and bid-rigging in Canada's construction industry. In December of 2016, the Bureau announced that as a result of several recent discoveries of illegal bidding practices, it will be intensifying its efforts to identify and prevent bid-rigging, with a particular focus on provincial and municipal infrastructure projects.

Public contracts constitute the majority of infrastructure projects in the country. With an expected increase in federal spending for such projects in 2017, the amount of bidding activity will also certainly increase. While that represents a great development for the construction industry, it also raises the spectre of possible illegal bidding activity. 

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