Third engineering firm to pay $750,000 in settlement for Quebec bid-rigging
News release
March 5, 2020 - GATINEAU, QC - Competition Bureau
Engineering firm Roche ltée, Groupe-conseil (now Norda Stelo Inc.) has been ordered to pay $750,000 over 4 years for bid-rigging on municipal infrastructure contracts in the province of Quebec.
The payment is part of a settlement reached by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and filed today with the Superior Court of Québec. The settlement ends the Competition Bureau’s investigation of the company’s role
in a bid-rigging scheme that targeted municipal contracts in Québec City and Lévis between 2006 and 2012, when the company was operating as Roche.
The settlement takes into account the fact that Roche previously reimbursed overpayments related to the bid-rigging through the Government of Quebec’s Voluntary Reimbursement Program. It also takes into account the company’s limited financial resources and that the individuals involved in the scheme no longer work for the firm.
As part of the settlement, the Court has also ordered the company to maintain its corporate compliance program, which is designed to prevent further anticompetitive activity by its employees.
This is the third settlement with an engineering firm resulting from the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation. Dessau and WSP Canada (formerly Genivar) were previously ordered to pay $1.9 million and $4 million respectively for their roles in the bid-rigging scheme.
The investigation has also resulted in guilty pleas by four former executives of engineering firms Cima+, Genivar and Dessau for bid-rigging on City of Gatineau infrastructure contracts. They received conditional prison sentences totalling five years and 11 months, and court-ordered community service totalling 260 hours.
Quotes
“The payments in these settlements are over and above what the companies have already reimbursed to the affected municipalities. I hope that sends a clear message to those who think they can steal money from taxpayers by rigging bids.”
Stéphane Lamoureux
Senior Deputy Commissioner, Cartels and Deceptive Marketing Practices
Quick facts
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Norda Stelo will make annual payments totaling $750,000 to the Receiver General for Canada over the next four years.
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The company conspired with competing engineering firms to rig bids on infrastructure contracts in Québec City and Lévis between 2006 and 2012, the period varying for each municipality.
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Bid-rigging raises the cost of products or services. Bid-rigging on municipal contracts amounts to a theft of taxpayers’ money that could otherwise be spent on important public needs.
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If you suspect that you are a victim of big-rigging or have information about a bid-rigging scheme, please contact the Competition Bureau.
Related products
Associated links
- Genivar (now WSP Canada) to pay $4 million in Quebec bid-rigging settlement
- Dessau to pay $1.9 million in settlement over bid-rigging on public contracts in Quebec
- 19-month sentence for fourth accused in Gatineau bid-rigging case
- Two more engineering executives plead guilty in Gatineau bid-rigging case
- 18-month sentence for second engineering executive to plead guilty in Gatineau bid-rigging case
- 1-year sentence for engineering executive who rigged bids for public contracts in Gatineau
- Criminal charges laid against four individuals for bid-rigging in the engineering industry
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