Updated: Statement of digital quality assurance and case study added.

Cartels are illegal. They’re a form of stealing that stop businesses, consumers and taxpayers getting a fair deal.

Having a cartel in your supply chain can raise prices by 30% or more from competitive levels. Cartels operate in secret and can be difficult to spot.

The Competition and Markets Authority has produced a free tool to help spot unusual bidder behaviour and pricing patterns identified in past cartels. It will tell you which (if any) of your procurement exercises show any signs of bid-rigging.

The free tool is digitally signed with Microsoft Authenticode certification. It is available for download on GitHub, an open source development platform. To receive log in details to access the GitHub site, please email screeningforcartels@cma.gsi.gov.uk. You will be able to download the tool, where you can test your procurement data. For information on using the tool and what to do if you do spot unusual bidder behaviour in your data see ‘About the screening for cartels tool’ above.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/screening-for-cartels-tool-for-procurers