National Grid facilities maintenance kickback scheme
Risk Mechanism
Facilities managers used bribery and kickback arrangements to steer maintenance contracts to a preferred contractor, weaken competitive safeguards, and protect the contractor from accountability for poor performance.
Case Summary
The U.S. Department of Justice stated that National Grid facilities managers accepted bribes and kickbacks while steering more than USD 50 million in maintenance contracts to a favored contractor. The scheme exploited weaknesses in non-competitive contracting, contractor oversight, and performance review, allowing biased award decisions and weak performance accountability to compromise operation and maintenance contracting.
Risk Lesson
This case demonstrates how operation and maintenance contracts can be steered through bribery, weak competition safeguards, and compromised contractor oversight. It highlights warning signs such as repeated awards to the same contractor, weak controls over non-competitive contracting, conflicts of interest in contract management, and poor follow-up on contractor performance.
Reference
U.S. Department of Justice. (2022). Two Former Managers of National Grid Sentenced to Prison for Bribery and Kickback Scheme. Available from: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/two-former-managers-national-grid-sentenced-prison-bribery-and-kickback-scheme