Both the winning and losing bids were sent from the same address – serious abuses in solar tenders were discovered

According to the findings of the Integrity Authority, several companies involved in solar panels colluded in EU tenders and thereby restricted competition, and therefore turned to the Economic Competition Authority, the authority announced on its website.

As it was written, based on a report, the organization conducted an ex officio investigation in connection with the grant applications submitted in the framework of the Rural Development Program’s call number VP6-7.2.1.4-17, entitled “Developments of household-scale electricity and water supply, as well as wastewater treatment”.

According to the announcement, in order to exclude real market price competition, the winning bidder in the projects colluded with two other bidding companies to ensure that his own bid was always the most favorable, winning bid during tenders for the installation of the solar panel system.

The authority identified coordinated quotations in 22 cases. The quotations of the companies that submitted a losing quotation during the grant application were also forwarded from the company e-mail address of the winning bidding company.

In the case of two subsidized projects, the authority found that there was a risk of unfair market behavior and restriction of competition for the bidders, and it filed a report with the Economic Competition Office. It was reported that, according to the authority’s point of view, anti-competitive behavior may have resulted in the abuse of European Union subsidies.

Although the companies were not named by the Integrity Authority, they wrote:

There is no direct connection between the companies, however, several of the managers of the companies involved are board members of the Hungarian Solar Solar Collector Association, and certain companies are located in neighboring areas.