DOJ Announces Procurement Collusion Strike Force
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced the formation of the new Procurement Collusion Strike Force, which will focus on deterring, detecting, investigating, and prosecuting antitrust crimes, such as bid-rigging conspiracies and related fraudulent schemes, which undermine competition in government procurement, grants, and program funding.
According to Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of DOJ’s Antitrust Division, the PCSF will be an interagency partnership consisting of prosecutors from the Antitrust Division, prosecutors from 13 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, and investigators from the FBI, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General, and other partner federal Offices of Inspector General.
At the outset, the task force will focus on 13 districts throughout the country, where it will conduct outreach and training for procurement officials and government contractors on antitrust risks in the procurement process. In addition, the partnered prosecutors and investigators will jointly investigate and prosecute cases that result from their targeted outreach efforts.
The PCSF has launched a publicly available website where government procurement officials and members of the public can review information about the federal antitrust laws and training programs, and report suspected criminal activity affecting public procurement.
