Overview

The purpose of this module is to introduce the class with various notions of efficiency and explain the impact of competition on them. It will discuss how regulatory measures may alter the functioning of the market and hinder the competitive process by creating barriers to entry, or discriminatory conditions. It will provide an introduction to bid rigging and discuss the evidence that a contracting authority may use to detect it and the available tools to fight it.
The class will also study the introduction of the main concepts of European Competition Law. The objective of this analysis is to understand how competition law applies to actions by tenderers (such as bid- rigging) as well as to actions by contracting authorities (such as joint purchasing). 

Objectives of the Module

• Illustrate the efficiency properties of competition; 
• Identify the structural conditions and the conduct of firms that may impair competition; 
• Introduce the main concepts of European Competition Law and their interplay with public procurement; 
• Show the main techniques that reduce the risk of collusion in Public Procurement by leveraging on the enforcement and coordination problems of anticompetitive behaviours. 

Methodology

Material

The main reference will be the slides presented in class by the lecturers, case studies materials and readings. 

Lecturers

• Paolo Buccirossi
• Robert Molden