'Screening for Cartels' in Public Procurement: Cheating at Solitaire to Sell Fool's Gold?

摘要

1. This paper critically assesses the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) 'Screening for Cartels' algorithmic tool to detect bid rigging in procurement markets.2. The paper evidences design and implementation flaws mainly derived from data unavailability, which severely limit the tool's functionality.3. The paper criticises the CMA for succumbing to the hype surrounding competition screens and algorithmic detection.4. The paper stresses that the 'Screening for Cartels' tool should not be considered a 'tried and tested' solution by any other competition authorities seeking to harness the power of bid data analytics to develop competition screening tools.