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Unfair tenders still the most reported cases
Unfair procurement tenders topped the list of cases reported to the anti-monopoly watchdog throughout 2009
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Unfair procurement tenders topped the list of cases reported to the anti-monopoly watchdog throughout 2009.
Of the 201 reports of unfair business practice across the nation filed with the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) in 2009, 169 or 84 percent were related to unfair procurement tenders.
Unfair tenders also topped the 2008 list with 189 cases or 79 percent of the total 230 reported cases.
The KPPU, as of the end of 2009, has only investigated 33 cases, of which 13 cases have since been closed. In 2008, the anti-monopoly body investigated far more cases, 68, and completed 43 of them.
In addition to the reported cases, the commission also received 529 written complaints from the public about alleged unfair business practices, KPPU spokesman Ahmad Junaidi said Wednesday.
Other cases reported to the commission included alleged illegal business cartels, mergers that led to monopolies, price fixing, predatory pricing and other unfair business practices prohibited under the 1999 Monopoly Law.
Ahmad said the figures showed people were now no longer afraid to report irregular procurement processes.
“Businesses are now more open to filing complains over alleged unfair tenders to the KPPU,” he told The Jakarta Post.
Fines imposed by the KPPU since its establishment in 2000 have also contributed Rp 1.01 trillion (US$107 million) to the state’s non-tax revenue, Junaidi added, “while we have used only Rp 139 billion from the state budget.”
The sectors that received the most attention from the KPPU in 2009 were infrastructure, energy, oil and gas, transportation, public health services, agriculture and small and medium enterprises.
In 2010, one of the KPPU’s focuses was to monitor abuse of power by officials in connection with government procurement tenders.
“Our observations so far show many government procurements still involve unfair processes, for example by fixing the outcome of tenders,” Junaidi said.
“Such practices mostly involve intervention by the bidding committee or even by top officials.” (bbs)
