CMA investigate the design, construction and fit-out services industry

First published by Author on March 30, 2018 in the following categories: Investigations and tagged with cma | construction industry

At the end of last year, six months on from initial investigations and information gathering, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) decided to open investigations in to the ‘design, construction and fit-out services’ sector over suspicions of competition act breaches.

No conclusions have yet to emerge, and the investigations remain ongoing. However, this sector has had its fair share of investigations and breaches in the past, so we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the investigation concludes that the law has been broken in some way.

The focus is on the supply of design, construction and fit-out services in the UK (‘fit-out’ is the developing interior spaces for occupation, like fitting out a building to hold hundreds of offices). The focus of the investigation is in relation to alleged agreements that may breach Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998 (CA98).

The construction industry is worth billions, and as we have seen with previous studies and investigations, it can be easy to intentionally or accidentally (but still negligently) form agreements that infringe competition law.

We’ll keep a close eye on this one and await the outcome of the CMA’s investigation.

It could take years for the CMA to conclude their investigation. If they are confident there have been breaches, they can pursue the case if it is economically viable to do so. Given the value of the industry, we would assume that it would be worth pursuing if there’s enough evidence to follow-through with the case.