Possible collusion in the waste collection tender. Searches in companies

• In Lublin, explanatory proceedings and searches are underway in the case of tender rigging.
• The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has initiated explanatory proceedings concerning a possible anti-competitive agreement.
• Office employees, accompanied by the police, searched the headquarters of the Kom-Eko and Koma Lublin companies.

The President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has initiated explanatory proceedings regarding a possible anti-competitive agreement.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has obtained information suggesting that two companies operating on the waste collection and management market in Lublin could have agreed on which tender procedures or parts thereof they would submit bids in and which they would withdraw from.

- informed the president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, Tomasz Chróstny.

The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, after obtaining court consent, conducted searches at the headquarters of Kom-Eko and Koma Lublin.

- There are indications that the bids submitted in recent tenders by both companies may have been coordinated. We are currently analyzing the evidence collected during the searches - says Chróstny.

For years, local governments have been drawing attention to the problem with waste collection tenders; in many of them, only one company participates, and accusations similar to those from Lublin are often articulated.

The suspicions relate to tender procedures for waste collection and management in Lublin, starting from 8 March 2018. According to the Office of OiKK, the searched entrepreneurs may have agreed that they would not submit competitive offers in individual tenders or parts thereof, and that each of them would provide services within a centrally determined scope.

The explanatory proceedings are conducted in the case, not against specific entrepreneurs. If the collected evidence confirms suspicions, then the president of the office will start antitrust proceedings and bring charges against specific entities. Participation in an agreement restricting competition is punishable by a financial penalty of up to 10 percent of the entrepreneur's turnover . Managers responsible for entering into a collusion are punishable by a financial penalty of up to PLN 2 million.

In November 2024, MP Joanna Mucha requested the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection to take a closer look at the tender for waste collection in Lublin.

The application was submitted after the applications were opened for the tender for waste collection from seven sectors in the city of Lublin. It turned out that only one company submitted a bid in each sector, and the amounts significantly exceeded those included in the specification.

"Only two companies submitted their offers. Neither of these companies submitted an offer to service the sector in which the other company submitted an offer," Mucha wrote to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection. She added that such actions could result in increases in fees for Lublin residents.

These are not the first suspicions of similar practices. In 2015, the National Appeal Chamber assessed that an illegal agreement had been reached in the fight for waste in Lublin. At that time, the aim was to bypass tender restrictions - recalled the portal jawnylublin.pl.