Disaster Recovery

Criminal Enforcement

Disaster Recovery

This page explains how to identify anticompetitive conduct that occurs after a natural disaster and how to report possible violations to the Antitrust Division.

Anticompetitive Conduct After a Natural Disaster

In the wake of devastation caused by a natural disaster, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) works with state and local government agencies to solicit competitive bids for cleanup and rebuilding contracts. Anticompetitive conduct that subverts the competitive bidding process includes:

Bid rigging: Two or more firms agree to bid in such a way that a designated firm submits the winning bid.

Price fixing: Two or more competing sellers agree on what prices to charge, such as by agreeing that they will increase prices a certain amount or that they won't sell below a certain price.

Customer or market allocation: Two or more firms agree to split up customers, such as by geographic area, to reduce or eliminate competition.

These agreements are generally secret, and the participants defraud customers by holding themselves out as competitors despite their agreement not to compete. They harm consumers and taxpayers by causing them to pay more for products and services and by depriving them of other byproducts of true competition.

The Role of the Antitrust Division in Disaster Recovery Efforts

As a member of the National Center for Disaster Fraud, the Antitrust Division is committed to offering our expertise and assistance in the wake of the devastation caused by natural disasters. The Antitrust Division’s role in disaster recovery efforts is to assist Federal, state, and local government agencies in preventing and deterring violations of criminal antitrust laws, such as bid rigging and collusion in the competitive bidding process.

Enforcement: If collusive conduct is discovered, the Antitrust Division stands ready to investigate and criminally prosecute the individuals and corporations seeking to unjustly profit from these tragedies.

Training: Antitrust Division attorneys are available to provide training to law enforcement agents, auditors, and procurement personnel to assist them in identifying and preventing fraud in the competitive bidding process.

Reporting Possible Violations

If you have information about possible anticompetitive activity or for more information about training, please visit Complaint Center.

Related Prosecution: Conspiracy and Bribery Plea and Convictions Following Hurricane Katrina

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf coast, from central Florida to Texas. Among other things, the hurricane caused extensive damage to the levee systems in New Orleans. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funded a project to reconstruct and enlarge one of these levees and solicited bids for this project in August 2006. An investigation by the Disaster Fraud Task Force, including the Antitrust Division, uncovered a conspiracy and bribery scheme, under which a subcontractor offered to pay two U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors in exchange for their attempt to steer a dirt, sand, and gravel subcontract on the levee reconstruction project to the subcontractor. The subcontractor planned to use part of the proceeds from the subcontract to pay bribes of approximately $299,000 to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors.

As a result of the investigation, one of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractors pleaded guilty to a bribery charge, and the other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor and the subcontractor were convicted at trial on conspiracy and bribery counts. The subcontractor was sentenced to 60 months in prison, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contractor that went to trial was sentenced to 70 months in prison.

If anticompetitive collusion is discovered, the Antitrust Division stands ready to investigate and criminally prosecute the individuals and corporations seeking to unjustly profit from these disasters.