nuclear-news

Vinci and Bouygues among six firms fined €31m for bid rigging in nuclear work

KHI By Neil Gerrard08 September 2023

France’s competition watchdog, Autorité de la Concurrence, has fined six companies a total of €31 million for bid rigging relating to tenders for work at a nuclear site in the country.

Nuvia Process (a subsidiary of Vinci Group), ENDEL (formerly and Engie subsidiary), Bouygues Construction Expertises (BCEN), SNEF and SPIE Nucléaire are all subject to the penalties.

The Autorité granted a sixth company, ONET Group, leniency and it has received an exemption from financial penalties.

The fines come after dawn raids at the companies prompted by suspicions of anticompetitive practices when it came to tendering for work at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission’s (CEA) Marcoule nuclear site in the Gard region……………………………………………………………………………………………………

In a statement, the Autorité said, “These practices are among the most serious breaches of competition rules, as they aim to remove the advantages that consumers and the public entity are entitled to expect from a competitive economy, and instead benefit the perpetrators.

“Disrupting the normal course of tendering procedures by hindering the free market pricing process and misleading the public authority as to the reality and extent of competition between tenderers, is detrimental to the sector in which such practices take place, and constitutes a serious breach of economic public policy.”

Nuvia’s penalty amounted to €13.9 million, while Endel received a fine of €11 million and BCEN a fine of €6.2 million.

SNEF and SPIE Nucléaire received lesser fines of €20,000 and €10,000 respectively.

The Autorité said it applied a mark-up to Nuvia, Endel and BCEN as they are all part of conglomerates. It also took into account the “repeated nature” of the offences committed by the Vinci and Bouygues groups. https://www.khl.com/news/vinci-and-bouygues-among-six-firms-fined-31m-for-bid-rigging-in-nuclear-work/8031517.article

September 9, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | France, Legal