Beware of bid rigging – Dutch competition authority dawn raids three construction companies!
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Partner
Netherlands
I am a partner in our Competition & EU Law Group in The Hague where I specialise in competition law and public procurement law, advising on contentious and non-contentious matters for a broad variety of our clients.
Associate
Netherlands
As an associate in our Regulatory and Competition & EU Law team in The Hague, I advise on a wide range of regulatory matters and EU law, with an emphasis on sustainability, including ESG, Energy, and Environmental Law.
On 17 November 2025, the Dutch Competition Authority (ACM) announced that it has dawn raided three construction companies and that it will further investigate these 3 construction companies due to alleged collusion between these companies to influence the outcome of a public tender (i.e. bid rigging).
According to the press release, ACM suspects that these three companies, that are active in the construction sector relating to large infrastructural projects, used concerted practices to unduly influence the outcome of the public tender. ACM emphasizes that when companies participate in a tender, they must prepare their bids independently and autonomously. Tacit collusion or secret price agreements between companies in a tender, seriously distort competition and will result in higher prices. EU competition rules and their national equivalents prohibit agreements that distort competition, which also results in unnecessary wasting of taxpayers’ money.
Bid rigging occurs when companies illegally coordinate to manipulate tender outcomes, using tactics like cover bidding, bid suppression, bid rotation, or market allocation—often in combination. Certain market conditions, such as a fairly limited number of competitors, barriers to entry, low innovation, predictable demand, or repeated tenders, increase the risk. Public buyers can reduce these risks through well-designed tenders that promote competition, use digital procurement tools, and clearly communicate penalties for collusion. Since bid rigging is often secret, procurement officers should be trained to spot warning signs like unusual prices or suspicious bidder behaviour and report concerns to competition authorities.
The European Commission addressed the issue of bid rigging in its Guidance Notice of 18 March 2021. ACM takes bid rigging seriously; in 2023 it fined four companies with EUR 56,000 for bid rigging in a tender for traffic lights. Importantly, a sanction for bid rigging also results in the applicability of one of the exclusion grounds in public tenders and hence an exclusion for at least three years for future tenders. Please also see these informative websites of the ACM which provide clear guidance on bid rigging and how to detect it.
