In November 2019, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the formation of a multi-agency Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF or Strike Force) tasked with detecting, investigating, prosecuting, and deterring antitrust crimes such as bid-rigging and related fraudulent schemes in the grant, government-procurement, and program-funding areas. Arnold & Porter previously wrote about the Task Force and provided an outlook as to what to expect from the Task Force in 2021.
Without explicitly referring to the Strike Force, the DOJ continues to focus on anticompetitive behavior in government contracting. This is clear from a recently announced guilty plea related to bid rigging. Alan Gaines, from Missouri, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to rig online bids submitted to the General Services Administration (GSA) in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act. He is the third individual charged and the third individual to plead guilty as part of the Antitrust Division’s investigation into the bid rigging conspiracy. Gaines entered into the guilty plea after the court denied his motion to dismiss the indictment, in which he challenged the government’s ability to bring antitrust charges against him. The reported proceeds from this scheme—$67,324—are modest, but that just underscores the DOJ’s focus on pursuing cases involving anticompetitive behavior and government procurements.
Source:
- Arnold & Porter: DOJ Continues Focus on Collusion in Government Procurements
