The Italian Competition Authority targets an alleged bid rigging conspiracy of the Big Four accounting firms

In the Case I796 GaraConsip- Servizi di support e assistenza tecnica alla Pubblica Ammnistrazione, the Italian Competition Authority (ICA) has recently opened an Article 101 TFEU investigation into the anomaly bidding practices of Deloitte, PWC, KPMG and Reconta EY. Such practices affected the tender procedure launched by Consip, the central purchasing body of the Italian public administration, for the award of a contract for the auditing of the programmes co-funded by the EU. The ICA noted that Deloitte, PWC, KPMG and Reconta EY were the only bidders to have submitted different prices for the different lots in the tender notice. In particular, none of them submitted the lowest price for the same lot. In the ICA’s view the only plausibile explanation for such conducts is a collusive strategy pursued by the parties. What it observed might suggest that the Big Four agreed who would offer the winning bid and coordinated their response to the tender notice in such a way that the contract would be awarded to who among them submitted the bid with the highest rebate.

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