Public procurement accounts for a significant share of public expenditure and is particularly vulnerable to practices that restrict competition and undermine integrity. These include bid rigging, favouritism, conflicts of interest and bribery, all of which can increase costs, reduce quality and weaken trust in public institutions.
Because corruption and collusion may be mutually reinforcing, competition authorities need to understand how integrity risks interact with anticompetitive conduct in procurement markets. Discretionary procurement practices and weak governance can facilitate cartel behaviour, while collusive market structures may conceal or enable corrupt arrangements. These risks may be particularly acute in emergency procurement, complex projects, repeated procurement relationships or highly concentrated markets.
In June 2026, the OECD will hold a roundtable on the topic to examine the interaction between corruption and anticompetitive conduct in public procurement and its implications for competition policy and enforcement. The discussion will explore how authorities identify corruption-related risks, including through red flags, and how these overlap with known indicators of bid rigging. It will also consider enforcement experience, detection methods, evidence gathering, and co-operation between competition authorities, procurement bodies and anti-corruption agencies.
This page contains all session information and materials.
