The Competition Council (CC) of the Republic of Latvia and the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau, called KNAB, have agreed on active cooperation through joint inspections and common informative events, in order to be more efficient on the use of the resources of both authorities.
Public procurements is a field with high risks of corruption, as well as of bid rigging; number of such infringements have been established in Latvia within recent years. The previous experience of the CC and the KNAB has shown that often these infringements are interrelated and procurement organizers with their conducts conduce or at least do not hinder bid rigging.
In order to make efficient use of resources of both institutions, the CC and KNAB have agreed on closer cooperation, both through preventive measures and investigations of infringements. Putting in use the expertise and skills in particular area, the CC and KNAB will provide each other with a mutual support for joint inspections to identify infringements and obtain evidence. For educational purposes, it is planned to hold joint informative events to public procurement organizers from local and central government institutions and state owned enterprises.
Up to this time, the CC and the KNAB have been actively engaged in the exchange of evidence and information on possible infringements that are disclosed during investigations and applies to the competence of the other institution. At the time, the CC and KNAB are ready to take the next step and improve the cooperation and optimise resources for systematic prevention and combating of corruption and bid rigging.
Public procurements are characterized by high risk of corruption, therefore it is essential for organizers to comprehend the entity of prohibitions and to be able to arrange fair and unbiased procurement. While working with procurement bids, indications of possible cartel agreements between enterprises can be spotted, thus procurement organizers can inform the CC and protect the procurement from increase in costs due to infringements of competition rights.