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Fighting bid rigging in government contracts: Mexico-OECD partnership

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Bid rigging involves groups of firms conspiring to raise prices or lower the quality of the goods or services offered in public tenders. Although illegal, the anti-competitive practice is widely applied and continues to cost governments and taxpayers billions of dollars every year across the world. The OECD Guidelines for Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement aim to make bid rigging more difficult for contractors and help government officials identify suspicious bidding.

Mexico’s Social Security Department spends around 2.5 billion US dollars annually on pharmaceuticals and other goods and services. Stepping up their fight against bid rigging by companies tendering for government contracts, the Mexican Competition Authority and the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) signed a co-operation agreement with the OECD in January 2011 to implement the OECD guidelines.

 

Since then, the OECD and the Mexican Competition Authority have been working with the IMSS to improve rules and procedures, and to train procurement officers.

 

In January 2012, the OECD issued a report on procurement regulations and practices in Mexico. The report also includes policy recommendations in key procurement areas such as market studies, co-ordination with other parts of government and training activities.

 

The report was presented officially on 11 January 2012 by the OECD Secretary-General during his visit to Mexico to meet President Felipe Calderón. See the news release and speech by Angel Gurría (both in Spanish only).

   

Report on procurement regulations and practices in Mexico and policy recommendations
January 2012

 

Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding

Mexico City - 13 January 2011

>> Speech by Angel Gurría

Mexico-Fighting against bid rigging

(left/right) Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OCDE; Daniel Karam Toumeh, Director of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and Eduardo Pérez Motta, President of the Federal Competition Commission of Mexico (CFC) at the Signing Ceremony.

 

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