Company, director flagged for bid-rigging Ngee Ann Polytechnic quotation exercises

The bid-rigging affected quotations worth $63,000 to $65,000.

The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) has flagged Rei Securite (Rei) and QBTT director Soh Chee Keong for bid-rigging three invitations to quote (ITQs) called by Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP).

CCCS has issued a Proposed Infringement Decision (PID) against the parties involved.

The bids were conducted between January 2021 and November 2022 for the procurement of licences for vulnerability management software and related support services. 

The value of the affected ITQs was between $63,000 and $65,000. CCCS was alerted to the conduct in January 2023.

CCCS’ investigations revealed that Soh arranged for two new companies - QBTT and Contabilita -  to submit cover bids, ensuring Rei won each ITQ. Soh later received up to $34,000 from Rei for IT support services related to these ITQs.

This misled NP into believing there was genuine competition from three independent bids. In reality, the bids were manipulated to favor Rei, preventing NP from obtaining the best value and undermining the competitive process.

The parties may provide their individual responses regarding the proposed infringements against them before CCCS makes its final decision.