The Competition Tribunal has, after requesting and receiving further submissions from the parties, confirmed a consent agreement whereby a corporate cleaning company, Quintax 31 CC trading as Quintax Cleaning Services (Quintax), admits that it colluded in a 2016 South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) tender in contravention of section 4(1)(b)(iii) of the Competition Act. The Sassa tender was for cleaning services in the North West province and Quintax was awarded the tender.
 
In terms of the consent agreement entered into with the Competition Commission (the Commission), Quintax will pay an administrative penalty (a fine) totalling R250 305.27.
 
Quintax also agrees to implement a competition law compliance programme, among others.
 
Quintax and Greensweep
 
Quintax is the second cleaning company involved in this collusion matter before the Tribunal.
 
Greensweep Consortium (Pty) Ltd (Greensweep) earlier admitted that it had tendered collusively with Quintax in relation to the tender. It agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R40 300.59. Its consent agreement with the Commission was confirmed as an order of the Tribunal in May 2019.
 
At the hearing of the Quintax consent agreement a representative of Quintax told the Tribunal that there was no relationship between Quintax and Greensweep or Ms Beatrice Tsakane Nkambule (Ms Nkambule). However, publicly available information at the time showed that Ms Nkambule was the Chairperson of Quintax. Quintax later, when asked by the Tribunal to submit further information, confirmed that Ms. Nkambule, who is a shareholder of Greensweep, also holds a member’s interest in Quintax.
 
Background
 
On 30 January 2018, Sassa submitted a complaint to the Commission alleging that Greensweep and Quintax entered into an agreement to fix prices and tender collectively when responding to tender number SASSA NW 14/16/CS/NW. The tender was issued for the provision of cleaning, sanitation, gardening and car wash services to Sassa in the North West province.
 
Upon completing its investigation, the Commission found that Quintax and Greensweep agreed to tender collusively in response to the tender issued by Sassa. It found that Quintax provided a cover price to Greensweep to submit a non-competitive bid to Sassa.  In line with the agreement, Greensweep submitted a higher bid to enable Quintax to win the tender.