Delta's bid-rigging attempt for National Gallery of Australia tender ends in $1.5m fine
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The news: Delta Building Automation's civil cartel lawsuit has ended in the company facing a $1.5 million fine for its attempt to rig a bid for a tender at the National Gallery of Australia.
The context: The civil lawsuit also targeted Delta's sole director Timothy Davis, who is facing a penalty of $120,000. Both fines must be paid within 60 days, with applications to pay by instalments due in 14 days from today's date, Federal Court of Australia Judge Robert Bromwich said today.
Both Delta and Davis have been banned for three years from speaking to competitors or potential competitors either directly or via a third party about any tenders for upcoming maintenance or replacements of building management systems in the Australian Capital Territory.
The competitions regulator alleged that in 2019 Davis organised a meeting at a Canberra café with the general manager of one of Delta's competitors — Antony "Tony" McEvilly, the general manager of Logical Electrical Solutions (LES).
At the 2019 meeting, Bromwich found in his judgment in August that Davis attempted to induce his competitor to enter into "an arrangement or understanding" so that Delta was more likely to be successful in winning the tender.
The court found Davis offered to pay McEvilly or LES in exchange for agreeing to the proposed arrangement which would have rigged the bid for the National Gallery’s building management system tender.
At a hearing on potential penalties last November, lawyers for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) argued the company should have faced a $2.5 million fine, while Delta's lawyers aimed to convince Bromwich that a fine of between $300,000 to $400,000 would have sufficed.
The source: Federal Court
