The Distinction Between Information Gathering And Implicit Collusion

A recent ruling of the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) imposed substantial surcharges on six construction companies for collusion, finding that each of these companies conspired to bid for different sections of a construction project into which the construction works were divided and for which separate bids were procured.

In the bidding process for the above construction, the bid issuer proposed the original design and each bidder had the option of submitting a bid using either the original design or its own design. A bidder using its own design could have received additional points in the technical evaluation but, if it failed to win the contract, only a minute portion of the expenses spent on the design was refunded.