The report was prepared by Eduardo Mangada Real de Asúa (team member) with support from Carmen Rubio (team member) under the supervision of Despina Pachnou (project lead), all of the OECD Competition Division. It benefitted from valuable comments from Ori Schwartz (head) and Antonio Capobianco (deputy head) of the OECD Competition Division.
The OECD expresses its gratitude to the European Commission for its generous funding through the Technical Support Instrument. In particular, the OECD would like to thank the Commission’s Reform and Investment Taskforce (SG REFORM) for its support and co‑operation throughout the project, especially Theodoros Galanis and Sabine Germe (A3 Sustainable Competitiveness, led by Kaspar Richter), as well as the Directorate-General for Competition (DG COMP) for its participation and contributions, in particular Martin Amegah and Lucia Slovak, (COMP Cartels I, led by Sari Suurnäkki), and Massimiliano Calaresu and Anne-Marie Mares (COMP.CTO.1, Data Analysis and Technology, led by Penelope Papandropoulos).
The OECD is particularly grateful to the six beneficiary authorities for their engagement and enthusiasm without which the project would not have been possible: the Federal Competition Authority of Austria (AFCA), led by Natalie Harsdorf; the Commission for Protection of Competition of the Republic of Bulgaria (CPC), led by Rosen Karadimov; the Croatian Competition Agency (CCA), led by Mirta Kapural; the Commission for the Protection of Competition of the Republic of Cyprus (CPC), led by Eva Pantzari; the Hellenic Competition Commission (HCC), led by Irene Sharpe; and the Romanian Competition Council (RCC), led by Bogdan Chirițoiu.
The OECD also wishes to acknowledge the valuable support of the project’s Advisory Group, who co‑ordinated the entire project alongside the OECD: Theodoros Galanis and Sabine Germe (SG REFORM); Lukas Cavada, Brigitte Slepicka and Ines Ulz (AFCA); Nadya Mincheva and Vesselka Kosserska (CPC, Bulgaria); Branimira Kovacevic, Sandi Valentinc and Tanja Vukov (CCA); Olga Droussioti Papachrysanthou and Georgia Aresti (CPC, Cyprus); Aggeliki Simitopoulou, Nadia Skandali and Sofia Dipla (HCC); and Oana Neg, Irina Popovici and Alina Lepădat (RCC).
This report draws on insights gathered during fact-finding interviews with public institutions in each of the participating countries. The OECD extends its appreciation to the following authorities for their insights: the Federal Procurement Agency (BBG) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) of Austria; the Public Financial Inspection Agency (PFIA), the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) and the National Audit Office (NAO) of Bulgaria; the State Commission for the Control of Public Procurement (DKOM) and the Ministry of Economy of Croatia; the Public Procurement Directorate of the Treasury, the Audit Office of the Republic and the Tenders Review Authority of Cyprus; the Hellenic Court of Audit (HCA) and the Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority (HSPPA) of Greece; and the National Court of Accounts and the National Agency for Public Procurement (ANAP) of Romania.
Furthermore, this report benefitted from exchanges during 21 OECD-organised workshops on fighting bid rigging for procurement officials, judges, private sector representatives and non-competition enforcers (including prosecutors, auditors and financial police). The OECD is grateful to all participants, with special thanks to the expert speakers: Martina Groß, Alexander Koprivnikar, Corinna Potocnik-Manzouri, Stefan Ruech, Brigitte Slepicka, Ralph Taschke, Teresa Eckhard, and Christiane Wakonig (AFCA); Andreas Bernat and Julia Gaulhofer (WKStA); Sonja Köller-Thier (Austrian Cartel Court); Daniel Madari (Vienna University of Economics and Business); Veselina Kamenova, Simeon Kolev, Atanas Nachkov, Ivan Petrov, Nadya Mincheva, Vesselka Kosserska and Irina Tagarinska-Ilcheva (CPC, Bulgaria); Ivana Hruškar, Tadija Kristić, Sara Orlić, Jelena Pavičić and Viktor Thes (CCA); Judge Jelena Čuveljak (High Commercial Court of Croatia); Olga Droussioti Papachrysanthou, Georgia Kastanou, Antonia Leptou, Angeliki Madianou, Costas Karathymios and Stavroula Ttofa (CPC, Cyprus); Demetra Kalli (Legal Service of the Republic of Cyprus); Nadia Skandali, Sofia Dipla, Yannis Apostolakis, Vasiliki Brisimi, Anna Gatziou, Eftichia Karkani, Hara Nikolopoulou, and Teri Vasilopoulou (HCC); Monica Beșnilă, Alexandra Dobondi, Ana Ivan-Iliescu, Ana Maria Marisca and Raluca Filip (RCC); Teodora Iancu (ANAP); Judge Ioannis Dimitrakopoulos, Judge Andreas J. Kumin, Judge Anna Markoulli, Judge Octavia Spineanu-Matei, Judge Vesna Tomljenović, Référendaire Hristo Kirilov, and Référendaire Alfredos Theodorakopoulos (Court of Justice of the EU, CJEU); Martin Amegah, Massimiliano Calaresu, Anne-Marie Mares, Johannes Persch and Lucia Slovak (European Commission, DG COMP); Nanna Ali (Danish Competition and Consumer Authority); Alexis Brunelle (French Competition Authority); Santiago Gabaldón García and Alberto Martín (Spanish Competition Authority); Petra Košťálová (Office for the Protection of Competition, Czechia); Professor Matthieu Le Bescond de Coatpont (Lille University); Miguel Moura e Silva (Portuguese Competition Authority); Pau Miralpeix Cufi (Catalan Competition Authority); Andriani Kalintiri (King’s College London); Giuseppe Stuppia (Italian Competition Authority, AGCM); and Christian Vorster (Bundeskartellamt, Germany).
The opinions expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the authorities and individuals mentioned above.
The report was formatted by Sofia Pavlidou, Project Co-ordinator, and prepared for publication by Erica Agostinho, Communications Officer, both of the OECD Competition Division. The report was edited for publication by Mark Foss.