More than 100 construction companies were fined nearly #163;130 million this week, after illegally colluding in bids to secure a series of building projects, including schools. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said that the companies had driven up the price of the projects by submitting artificially high quotations and, in some cases, compensating rivals for the cost of tendering. The OFT found that around 4,000 tenders had been distorted, including one for the refurbishment of a Church of England primary in Derbyshire.
