On 22 March iNetwork hosted a seminar session in Trafford with our partners, and 2016 Innovation Award winners, STaR Procurement titled: “Stopping the Cheats in Public Procurement”.

 

We invited 25 procurement professionals from across the iNetwork community to listen, learn and ask questions of two front-line experts in spotting and stopping cheats in public procurement. Brian Malone and David Harper from Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) delivered an engaging half day seminar in which they laid bare the shocking extent to which businesses and suppliers covertly, and sometimes overtly, collude to illegally to suppress competition and thus drive up the price of public sector contracts.

 

Delegates had the chance to learn about high profile cases and common instances of companies illegally rigging bids, sharing markets, and fixing prices. The visiting CMA experts talked extensively about their investigatory tactics and procedures as well as the new, harsher, penalties that they can now impose on companies who breach competition law. They also gave really useful advice for procurement professionals on some of the major warning signs of illegal collusion between suppliers.

 Much of the advice and guidance can be accessed online in the form of a procurement tool from GOV.UK. iNetwork members can also download the full CMA presentation from the seminar by following the link to the Knowledge Hub.

 

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This event was delivered as part of iNetwork’s connected procurement programme. Why not sign up to our connected procurement mailing list to receive updates and invitations to similar events in the future.