United States:
Procurement Collusion Strike Force’s Focus On Detection Yielding New Investigations
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
On March 3, 2020, the American Bar Association (ABA) hosted a
Q&A with two members of the Procurement Collusion Strike Force
(PCSF)—Mark Grundvig, the Assistant Chief of the DOJ
Antitrust Division’s Criminal II section, and Markus Mills,
Special Agent, Major Fraud Investigations Division, USPS Office of
Inspector General.
During the course of the Q&A, Mr. Grundvig and Mr. Mills
provided their perspective on the goals and progress of the
PCSF.
WHAT HAPPENED:
- The PCSF representatives explained
that the PCSF is heavily focused on improving detection of per
se antitrust violations such as
bid-rigging,
price-fixing and market-allocation. - To improve detection, the PCSF is:
- Training agents on per se
antitrust violations and other anticompetitive conduct to improve
agents’ ability to spot antitrust violations; - Training industry participants via
tradeshows and industry conferences on per se antitrust
violations and other anticompetitive conduct to increase industry
reporting via tips or
applications to the leniency program; - Obtaining and reviewing data from
historical (and future) bids; and - Developing cross-agency database of
allegations/concerns.
- Training agents on per se
- The PCSF believes these actions will
not only increase detection, but will also deter conduct—a
positive feedback loop to reduce antitrust violations. The more
stakeholders that understand what are antitrust violations, the
greater the threat of detection for those bad actors. -
As reported here and noted in the press release announcing the strike force on
November 5, 2019, the PCSF is focusing its efforts on 13 US
Attorney Office (USAO) districts. However, more than 40 local,
state and federal jurisdictions have since reached out to
participate with the PCSF. - The PCSF will investigate any product
market, and the PCSF is not focused on specific markets. The PCSF
members noted, however, that investigations into one industry often
yield parallel investigations into related or adjacent industries,
particularly if the companies involved are active in multiple
industries. - Publicity from the formation of the
PCSF has already been credited with yielding several investigations
via complaints—confirming that detection will only improve
with the PCSF in place.
WHAT THIS MEANS:
- The PCSF is focused on increasing its
ability to detect antitrust violations across a broader cohort of
government contractors because of the rapid increase in government
procurement over the last five years. The investigators believe
that this increase in spending has led to increased abuses. Because
taxpayer money is at stake, the PCSF will be aggressive in
investigating any abuses it detects or are brought to its
attention. - We believe that particular interest
should be paid to these developments by small- and medium-sized
government contractors. While the PCSF will investigate any size
fraud or antitrust violation, the task force members noted that
larger government contractors tend to have robust training and
mitigation programs to prevent the kinds of conduct that the PCSF
is focused on eliminating. - The increased political focus on
violations of the antitrust laws
in all respects, along with the DOJ’s recent decision
to consider effective antitrust compliance programs when
charging, makes a strong business case for those in the government
procurement space to review and revise current compliance programs
or implement a compliance program if one is not already in
place. - Auditing or implementing a compliance
program is a prudent low-cost action item that gives stakeholders
increased security that they are taking the proper steps to
mitigate exposure. McDermott’s antitrust and government
procurement groups can help companies with all facets of their
compliance programs as they relate to government contracting.
Specifically, we can provide an individualized assessment of your
business and assist you with developing, instituting and
maintaining compliance programs so that your company can
concentrate on what is most important: competing effectively in the
marketplace.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Anti-trust/Competition Law from United States
