Fair Trade Commission Discovers Bid Rigging in Control and Monitoring Systems
Agreement on Bidding Prices via Email and KakaoTalk,
A KakaoTalk conversation among employees of a cooperating company explaining the bid rigging method. Fair Trade Commission,
, ‘Twelve companies involved in bidding for the installation of control and monitoring systems in Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor process were caught rigging prices through agreements and were fined a total of 104.59 billion won by the Fair Trade Commission.’,
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, ‘On the 2nd, the Fair Trade Commission revealed that “12 cooperating companies, including FS Engineering and Duta IT, manipulated the anticipated winners, bidding prices, etc., in 334 bids for control and monitoring systems related to semiconductor processes ordered by Samsung SDS.”‘,
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, ‘Control and monitoring systems maintain optimal environmental conditions such as temperature for semiconductor manufacturing and monitor chemical emissions to ensure worker safety. Samsung SDS outsources the installation of necessary products and some construction work for these systems from Samsung Electronics.’,
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, ‘With the aim of cost reduction, Samsung SDS switched from negotiated contracts to competitive bidding in 2015, leading to an agreement where the 12 cooperating companies continued to win bids for items they previously received through negotiated contracts, while other companies agreed to act as sub-contractors.’,
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, ‘The companies that were chosen to win the bids would send bidding prices and estimates to the subcontractor companies via email or KakaoTalk after the bidding announcement. The subcontractor companies would then respond to the bids at the prices sent by the anticipated winners. This bid rigging continued for nine years until 2023.’,
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, ‘The Fair Trade Commission decided to impose a total fine of 104.59 billion won on these companies along with corrective orders. The Fair Trade Commission stated, “This is the first case of discovering a long-term bid rigging in the national key industry of semiconductor manufacturing processes” and expressed hope that it would eliminate bid rigging practices that could weaken the competitiveness of the semiconductor industry.’,
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