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DOJ Antitrust Division doubles down on procurement bid rigging 21 May 2026 Recent statements by Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division leadership evidence the Since 2019, the Antitrust Division has stood up, trained anddeployed a multiagency task force charged with combattingantitrust crimes in the procurement process. In the pastcouple of years, this Procurement Collusion Strike Force(PCSF) has become the Antitrust Division’s primary weaponfor prosecuting bid rigging, price-fixing and market allocation Since its inception in 2019, the PCSF has opened nearly 200investigations, 100 of which the task force initiated in fiscalyear 2025 alone.3As a result of these investigations, the PCSFhas secured more than 85 guilty pleas and convictions andUS$70 million in fines and restitution.4The industries impacted Most recently, in March, the PCSF announced the first guiltyplea in an ongoing investigation into bid rigging of contractsat US military installations.5The owner of a shelving andstorage supply company pled guilty to submitting collusivebids for healthcare-related projects at an Air Force basein Georgia that were funded through the Defense Logistics The PCSF: Background and track record The PCSF is a multiagency task force created to investigateand prosecute antitrust crimes in government procurement atthe federal, state and local level, as well as abroad.2The taskforce is made up of the DOJ Antitrust Division, US attorneys’offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and numerousinspectors general from federal agencies. In particular, the Also in March, the PCSF announced another guilty plea in anine-year bid-rigging scheme to defraud the US Air Force.6 A former service member pled guilty to conspiring to wirefraud and bribery-related charges for his role in a US$37million fraud scheme to inflate the cost of IT contracts to theUS Pacific Air Forces. The service member faces up to 20 The Antitrust Division has achieved significant successes in In addition to securing guilty pleas, the PCSF has won convictions of government contractors at trial, resultingin significant jail sentences. In January, the owner ofIndependent Marine Oil Services LLC was convicted by a juryof 34 felonies related to submission of US$4.5 million in fakeinvoices to US Navy and Coast Guard ships attempting to However, the Antitrust Division has often charged antitrustcrimes under Title 18, the criminal code, where fraud-relatedconduct can result in up to 20 years in prison for each count.Corporate fines can also exceed the statutory cap to twice Government contractors should heed the AntitrustDivision’s threat of jail time and longer prison sentences forantitrust crimes. Division leadership has made clear thatthey are “laser focused on individual accountability” andcommitted to punishing wrongdoing with “significant jailsentences.”10In fiscal year 2025, the number of prison days Antitrust Division signals pipeline ofprocurement bid-rigging cases Recent public statements by Antitrust Division officialssignal that the division remains committed to prosecutingbid rigging in government procurement. In March, the actingdeputy assistant attorney general (DAAG) for criminalenforcement, Daniel Glad, lauded the PCSF for producing •Suspension and debarment–Government contractorsmay also be suspended and debarred for violationsof federal and state antitrust statutes relating to thesubmission of offers to US government agencies.11Asuspension or debarment essentially bars a contractorfrom doing business with the US government for a periodof time. Specifically, any contractor debarred, suspendedor proposed for debarment is excluded from receivingcontracts and subcontracts – with a few limited exceptionsin the case of subcontracts. Additionally, US government The Antitrust Division’s new whistleblower program likely willfuel the PCSF’s investigations. Assistant Attorney General(AAG) Omeed Assefi recently touted the new whistleblowerprogram as having “generated a flurry of tips” that have ledto criminal charges.8Announced in July 2025, the programgives the division discretion to award an individual whoreports original information about an antitrust offense that Why the PCSF matters to government In light of the Antitrust Division’s heightened focus onprocurement bid rigging, government contractors should •Private civil litigation–When criminal antitrustinvestigations become public, they inevitably promptprivate plaintiffs to file related civil class actions againstthe companies under scrutiny. These civil litigations oftenconsume defendant companies for years, if not a decade •Jail time and criminal fines–Antitrust violations such asprice-fixing, bid-rigging and market-allocation schemesare prosecuted criminally and carry the weight of jail timeand criminal fines. Under Section 1 of the Sherman Act (15U.S.C. Section 1), such conduct is punishable by up to 10 7“Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Daniel Glad Delivers K