Ask 1: Allow the CCPC to identify cartels in public procurement

Introduction

When State and Commercial Semi-State bodies buy goods or services or undertake building projects, they must run a tendering process. This is to make sure these bodies and taxpayers get good value for money by encouraging bidders to compete on price and quality. Bid-rigging is a serious breach of competition law. It happens when suppliers secretly work together to shape the outcome of the tender process by agreeing not to compete or by coordinating their bids. This results in higher prices or lower quality goods and services. Bid rigging can also lead to higher prices for the private sector.

The CCPC needs the power to screen public procurement data for signs that businesses are secretly colluding to influence outcomes. We need this power in order to discourage bid-rigging, detect and investigate suspected cases and hold bid riggers accountable.

In 2017, the Government introduced the ‘White-collar Crime Package’, a set of measures to improve Ireland’s ability to fight corporate, economic, and regulatory crime. The Hamilton Review Group was set up to deliver on this promise. The Hamilton Report, published in 2020, recommended:

• Making bid-rigging an offence in Irish law (this has now happened under the Competition (Amendment) Act 2022).
• New laws to allow the collection and analysis of all public procurement data to find bid rigging.
• Guidance, awareness raising and education for procurers on bid-rigging and collusion in public procurement

Why it matters

• We know that there are cartels operating in Ireland. In 2025, a group of five individuals were convicted by a jury in the Central Criminal Court for participating in a bid-rigging cartel, following an investigation by the CCPC. The offences occurred in respect of a tender competition for publicly funded school transport services in the Southwest region.

• To make sure we get good value for money, promote competition, support the growth of small businesses, and protect government funds. In Ireland, the State spends over €18 billion every year on buying goods and services, and carrying out construction projects. This includes building infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, housing, and roads, and paying for goods and services. Ireland plans to spend €275.4 billion between 2026 and 2035 under the National Development Plan.

   

• It is estimated that bid-rigging in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries leads to states paying 20-30% more. Bid-rigging harms the process of buying goods and services and results in the State paying more than it would otherwise. Today, finding cases of bid-rigging mostly depends on people reporting it to the CCPC or cartel members asking for protection from enforcement action by using the CCPC and DPP’s Cartel Immunity Programme and the Administrative Leniency Programme. Without the right information and data, it’s much harder for the CCPC to actively find bid-rigging.

• The competition agencies in many countries have recognised that, rather than waiting for people to report individual instances of possible bid-rigging, they can take a pro-active approach and screen all public sector procurement data.

How we can do it

• Bring in laws that would allow the CCPC to collect, organise and study all public procurement data to find and prevent bid-rigging. To do this, new legislation is required, and the CCPC welcomes the commitment made by the Government in its Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity published in September 2025 to give the CCPC these powers. The Government has consulted in 2026 on legislation that will provide the CCPC with the new powers it needs to screen public procurement data for signs of potential bid rigging.
  
• The CCPC is working with European colleagues on exploring the possibility of creating a shared tool for finding bid-rigging. These tools should lower the cost of setting up and managing the process of screening procurement data to find bid-rigging. The CCPC’s approach to developing a screening tool will eventually be part of an overall EU approach.