Readout: Justice Department’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force Holds Summit in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, and the Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF) today hosted a summit where procurement officials and law enforcement partners from across Southern California convened to discuss emerging threats and raise awareness.

United States Attorney (USA) Martin Estrada, Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG) Manish Kumar of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, PCSF Director Daniel Glad and law enforcement partners were joined by representatives from over a dozen state and local government agencies.

During the summit, USA Estrada and DAAG Kumar reflected on the PCSF’s growth and success since its inception in 2019. They also detailed additional resources the department has dedicated to combat procurement collusion, emphasized the importance of law enforcement partnerships and a whole-of-government response to persistent threats in government spending and sharpened the PCSF’s focus on the challenges, risks and opportunities posed by increased federal spending in Southern California.

Summit participants discussed the importance of defending critical programs under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act of 2022 from procurement collusion risk. USA Estrada and DAAG Kumar also outlined the ways that state and local government agencies can partner with the PCSF to address these emerging threats.

Summit participants included representatives from the FBI; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; the Department of Commerce, Office of Inspector General; the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General; and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

The PCSF is the Justice Department’s coordinated, national law enforcement effort to combat antitrust crimes and related fraudulent schemes that impact procurement, grant and program funding at all levels of government – federal, state and local. The PCSF is comprised of the Antitrust Division, multiple U.S. Attorneys’ Offices around the country, the FBI and the Inspectors General for multiple federal agencies.

Since its inception in November 2019, the PCSF has opened more than 100 criminal investigations and trained more than 31,000 people. In that time, the PCSF and Antitrust Division have investigated and prosecuted over 65 companies and individuals involving over $500 million worth of government contracts. The summit marks the department’s continued support of the PCSF as it enters its fifth year. To learn more about the PCSF, or to report collusion affecting government contracts, please visit www.justice.gov/atr/procurement-collusion-strike-force.

Assistant United States Attorney Jeff Mitchell and Antitrust Division Trial Attorneys Nolan Mayther and Ken Sakurabayashi are the PCSF coordinators for the Central District of California.