Bid-rigging: OFT decision could be as late as September

The Office of Fair Trading has confirmed that its decision on what action to take following its investigation into cover-pricing and "bid-rigging" could now come as late as September.

The OFT alleged that 112 contractors were involved in cover-pricing activities in April last year, and accused a smaller minority of the more serious charge of "bid-rigging".

A decision on what action, if any, the OFT would take against the 112 contractors was originally scheduled for June.

But a spokesman for the OFT has confirmed that it will not take any action until September at the earliest.

"We expect to make a final decision within the third quarter of 2009," the spokesman said. He declined to explain why the decision had been delayed.