The Korea Fair Trade Commission announced on the 24th that it had issued a corrective order and a fine of 27 million won to Juwon DNP and Irumi Construction for colluding (bid rigging) by agreeing in advance on the successful bidder and a decoy during the maintenance work bid held at Sujeong Hanyang Apartment in Ansan City, Gyeonggi Province, in January 2023.
When an apartment becomes outdated, companies are usually selected for maintenance work such as exterior wall repainting and roof waterproofing, and qualified companies with professional construction licenses and certain construction records can participate in the bidding.
According to the Fair Trade Commission, Juwon DNP, aware that Irumi Construction was participating in this bid, requested Irumi Construction to act as a decoy to avoid low-price competition resulting from a lowest-bidder decision system and to increase the chances of winning the bid.
The representative of Juwon DNP utilized their acquaintance with the representative of Irumi Construction, which was formed at a patent training center, to request acting as a decoy, and received approval. Subsequently, the parties involved discussed and decided on the bid price for Irumi Construction as a decoy and executed it. Juwon DNP proposed this decoy arrangement because Irumi Construction had a significantly superior advantage in terms of project execution.
As a result, Juwon DNP won the bid and a contract worth approximately 2.2 billion won was concluded. The Fair Trade Commission judged that such conduct violated the bid rigging provisions of the Fair Trade Act and imposed a corrective order (cease and desist order) and a fine of 27 million won (19 million won for Juwon DNP and 8 million won for Irumi Construction).