Competition watchdog flags company, director for rigging bids in Ngee Ann Polytechnic quotation exercises

SINGAPORE: A company and a director were flagged on Friday (Aug 2) by Singapore’s competition watchdog for rigging bids in three quotation exercises called by Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) said it had issued a proposed infringement decision against Rei Securite and Soh Chee Keong, the director of another, now-defunct, company.
“The companies engaged in bid-rigging conduct relating to three invitations to quote (ITQs) called by NP between January 2021 and November 2022 for the procurement of licences for vulnerability management software and related support services,” the watchdog said.
The affected invitations were each valued at between S$63,000 (US$47,320) and S$65,000, CCCS said, adding that it was alerted to the bid-rigging in January 2023.
A proposed infringement decision is a written notice issued to parties concerned with a suspected Competition Act infringement. It details the basis for CCCS’ proposed decision regarding the suspected infringement and gives the parties an opportunity to make representations and provide information to CCCS before it makes a final decision on the matter.
Rei participated in the three invitations to quote and investigations found that Soh had entered into agreements with Rei and procured the submission of cover bids by two newly incorporated companies – QBTT and Contabilita – for each of the exercises.
“This gave NP the false impression that there was genuine competition from three independent bids, when in reality the bids were not independently determined and were designed to enhance Rei’s chances of winning the ITQ,” said CCCS.
“This prevented NP from obtaining bids that could provide the best value from the ITQ process, thereby undermining the intended competitive process.”
As a result of the cover bids, Rei won each of the affected invitations to quote.
Soh later received up to S$34,000 from Rei for providing IT support services to NP on behalf of Rei in respect of the affected invitations to quote.
CCCS noted that although Soh was the sole director and shareholder of QBTT, the cover bidding arrangement was made in his personal capacity. He is not related to either Rei or Contabilita.
Both QBTT and Contabilita were incorporated around the time of the first affected quotation exercise, and the two companies were struck off the Register of Companies in September 2023 after CCCS’ intervention into Soh’s conduct.
Rei and Soh have until Aug 29 to provide written representations in response to CCCS’ proposed infringement decision, after which the competition watchdog will make its final decision on the case.