Webinar — If Bidders Collude, How Can Nations Cooperate?

On 2 June 2021, a webinar entitled “If Bidders Collude, How Can Nations Cooperate?” will be held, organised by King’s College, London and George Washington University Law School. Dr. Wojciech Hartung, Counsel in DZP’s Infrastructure and Energy Practice, will be a speaker at this virtual event.

Join a free hourlong webinar with King’s College, London and George Washington University Law School to discuss a key development in anti-corruption and procurement – competing strategies in Europe and the United States to combat bidder collusion.  While the United States has focused on classic antitrust enforcement, the European Commission has encouraged member states to address collusion through established procurement rules, and (as Professor Alison Jones has suggested) the United Kingdom may take a different, more integrated approach to corruption and collusion as its procurement system is rebuilt after Brexit.  At the same time, the European Commission has proposed sanctioning contractors that receive foreign subsidies to win major procurement contracts (outside the defense sector). Taken together, these divergent enforcement strategies create new and complex compliance challenges for businesses working in U.S. and European procurement markets. 

Panelists

• Michael Bowsher QC – Co-Moderator – Michael Bowsher, of Monckton Chambers, London, regularly handles leading public procurement and competition law matters in the United Kingdom and Ireland; he is also a visiting professor at King’s College, London, where he teaches on European and global public procurement law and policy.
• Juliette Enser – UK Anti-Cartel Initiatives – As a Senior Director in the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Ms. Enser has overall responsibility for the CMA’s cartel investigations. Following Brexit, the CMA has taken on responsibility for investigating larger cross-border cartels previously reserved to the European Commission.
• Daniel W. Glad – U.S. Procurement Collusion Strike Force – With many years of experience as an investigator and attorney handling antitrust investigations, Mr. Glad now directs the Procurement Collusion Strike Force, U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division, a nationwide, interagency partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and other federal law enforcement agencies, to investigate and prosecute antitrust crimes that affect government grants and procurement.
• Dr. Wojciech Hartung – European Commission’s Anti-Cartel Initiative – Both inside government and now in private practice at DZP Warsaw, Wojtek Hartung has extensive experience on issues of public procurement and cartels. With Katarzyna Kuźma, he is the co-author of Combating Collusion in Public Procurement. Legal Limitations on Joint Bidding (Edward Elgar, 2020). 
• Professor Alison Jones – Next Steps in UK Anti-Cartel Policy – Professor Jones, of King’s College, London, an internationally recognized authority on fighting corruption in procurement, is most recently the author of Combatting Corruption and Collusion in UK Public Procurement: Proposal for Post-Brexit Reform (Mar. 2021).
• Professor William Kovacic – U.S. Anti-Cartel Policy in an International Context – William Kovacic is the Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy and Director of the Competition Law Center at GW Law. He previously served stints as the chairman and general counsel of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and he has been a leading voice for international cooperation in antitrust policy.
• Professor Albert Sanchez-Graells – Understanding EU Bid Rigging Policy – Albert Sanchez-Graells is a Professor of Economic Law at the University of Bristol Law School and a Member of the European Procurement Law Group. He contributed initial comments on the European Commission’s 2021 Bid Rigging Exclusion Guidance, as well as earlier papers on the topic.
• Assistant Dean Jessica Tillipman – Co-Moderator – Jessica Tillipman directs the Government Procurement Law program at GW Law, which was founded in 1960 and is one of the world’s leading programs. Dean Tillipman teaches on anti-corruption and compliance, and lectures, nationally and internationally, on emerging issues in corruption in public procurement.
• Professor Christopher Yukins – Program Coordinator – Christopher Yukins is the Lynn David Research Professor in Government Procurement Law at George Washington University Law School. He lectures and publishes, both in the United States and around the world, on emerging issues in public procurement law. With Michael Bowsher, he has run a series of programs on international procurement hosted by GW Law and King’s College, London.

Date and time: June 2, 2021, 9:00 Eastern US, 14:00 UK, 15:00 CET

The webinar will be held in English.

For more information and to register, please visit the Public Procurement International’s website: https://publicprocurementinternational.com/webinar-kcl-gw-bidder-collusion/