Four software corporations, including Suresoft Technology, were hit with a penalty surcharge of 161 million won and corrective orders by the Fair Trade Commission.
On the 10th, according to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC), Suresoft Technology, Cools, Tbell and Coontec colluded in bids for purchases of software testing systems by the Public Procurement Service and others, including by intentionally submitting low prices to ensure a specific company would win the contract. A software testing system is a system that searches for factors that could cause defects in software during development and operation.
The beneficiary of the bid rigging was Suresoft Technology. While participating in bids for software testing systems, Suresoft Technology asked the other three corporations to take part as foils to prevent a failed tender due to a single bid. The three corporations are partners of Suresoft Technology. Suresoft Technology provided the bid prices and proposals to the partner corporations playing the foil role.
This conduct continued from Dec. 2020 to July 2023. As a result, Suresoft Technology won all 11 bids. The total contract amount for the cases is 4.5 billion won. Bid rigging subjects not only the ringleader but also participating actors to punishment, so the three corporations that acted as Suresoft Technology's foils were also sanctioned. However, the highest penalty surcharge was imposed on Suresoft Technology (108 million won), while the foils Cools, Tbell and Coontec were fined in the range of 10 million to 30 million won.
The Korea Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said it "sanctioned conduct in which a superior operator with technological prowess in the research and development (R&D) field, where public funds are injected, sought to raise winning bid prices under the pretext of preventing failed tenders." It added, "This detection will serve as an opportunity to improve collusive practices and create a fair competitive environment."