Nave San Marco, who are the companies under the lens of Anac and GdF
Anac-Gdf inspection in the Taranto military arsenal. At the center is the tender for the modernization of the San Marco della Marina ship. All the details
The Anac and the Special Anti-Corruption Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome carried out an inspection at the Military Arsenal of Taranto on 28 September.
At the center – wrote the Ansa – the announcement, and the relative contracts, for the modernization of the San Marco ship of the Navy. According to what emerged from the investigation still in progress, the consortium of companies that was awarded the works would be configured as a stable structure to support the Arsenale, and Anac assumes the violation of the principles of competition, level playing field and non-discrimination.
The hypothesis is that the consortium of companies was configured as a stable structure to support the Arsenal of the Navy of Taranto.
An Antitrust investigation is also pending on this consortium.
On 2 August, the Competition and Market Authority announced that it had initiated an investigation against the companies Comerin Srl; Comes Spa; Electra Srl; Imet; Plant Maintenance and Reclamation Meridional Srl .; Maren Srl; Officine Jolly Srl; Omega Engineering Marine Srl, Research, Innovation, Technologies (Rit) Srl; Technomont Taranto Srl; TPS Taranto Srl, Siples Srl; Consortium Chio.me; Chiome Srl and Consorzio Navalmeccanico Taranto-CNT to ascertain the existence of violations of art. 101 of the TFEU.
Under the antitrust authority's lens there is the existence of a possible agreement restricting competition between the parties in the tenders for various types of supplies to military ships. Among the calls under the Agcm lighthouse also the one on which Anac and Fiamme Gialle are investigating: the call 4118/2018 .
In addition, the one at the Arsenal is also followed by another inspection at the Naval Station of Taranto to find out about the assignments assigned by the Command of the naval station from 2018 onwards, which took place directly or in groupings to some operators, also involved in investigations by the judiciary. .
For the Arsenal of Taranto it is not the first time under the investigators' lens for the adjudication of the tenders.
In February 2020, arrests were even made for 12 people, including the director of the Arsenal of Taranto . The investigation concerned a cartel of companies from Taranto capable of conditioning tenders and setting hammer prices. Investigations by the Guard di Finanza had shown that the companies involved in the investigation were essentially the same "sanctioned by the Antitrust" in 2013 for "disturbing the tenders announced by the military bodies".
All the details.
THE TENDER FOR WORKS ON THE SAN MARCO SHIP
According to Anac, the works on Nave San Marco, initially included in a single tender worth over three million, were unpacked into eleven tenders, with eleven lots, and finally rejoined, with the consortium of companies as a single winning operator. .
As stated in the tender of the Navy FASC. 4118/18 , “For the identification of the contractor, the accelerated restricted procedure will be used, pursuant to art. 72 and 73 of Legislative Decree 50/2016, based on the Technical Specification of the Contracting Authority. The urgency is motivated by the need to ensure, in the shortest possible time, the availability of the naval unit in the operational line, according to the most recent programmatic elements and the changed operational scenarios that have occurred, to face the serious crises in progress in the Mediterranean Sea and ensure the request for participation in international commitments ".
THE DISPUTES OF ANAC
There are several complaints by the ANAC, from the non-existence of the urgency requirement to the generic nature of the technical specifications indicated in the announcement, also taking into account that Italy belongs to NATO and that it would be necessary to clearly and precisely indicate the technical characteristics.
Furthermore, the characteristics of the personnel indicated for the modernization work were specified in the San Marco call for tenders, favoring pre-established economic operators with these indications to the detriment of others.
THE HYPOTHESIS ABOUT THE CONSORTIUM OF ENTERPRISES
The Special Anti-Corruption Unit of the Guardia di Finanza of Rome is verifying the anti-corruption measures by assisting Anac in the examination of the tender minutes, in the composition of the tender commissions, the tender contracts and the execution status of the various assignments. The hypothesis is that the consortium of companies was configured as a stable structure to support the Arsenal of the Navy of Taranto.
These aspects are being examined by the competent authorities.
The inspection by Anac and the Guardia di Finanza could bring useful elements of clarification.
THE INVESTIGATION STARTED BY THE AGCM
Furthermore, as reported at the beginning, this summer the Antitrust Authority also launched an investigation to ascertain the possible agreement restricting competition between the parties in the tenders for various types of supplies to military ships.
The Agcm explained that the “evidence in the file appears to outline the existence, at least starting from 2018, of a secret anti-competitive agreement concerning the sharing of the market on the occasion of the tenders announced by the Taranto Arsenal. The concertation, neutralizing the performance of an effective competitive confrontation between the Parties, would have altered the normal trend of the market and the outcome of the market with the effect, also, of influencing the methods and economic conditions for awarding tenders ".
Among the tenders under the Antitrust lighthouse we find those starting from the year 2018. Among these also those for the award of various modernization services of various military ships identified by procedures from 4110/18 to 4112/18, 4114/18 and 4118/18 (the latter is the call on which Anac and Gdf are also investigating) and from 5658/18 to 5667/18 and 5671/18.
COMPANIES UNDER INVESTIGATION BY THE ANTITRUST
The investigation launched this summer by the antitrust concerns the companies: Comerin Srl; Comes Spa; Electra Srl; Imet; Plant Maintenance and Reclamation Meridional Srl .; Maren Srl; Officine Jolly Srl; Omega Engineering Marine Srl, Research, Innovation, Technologies (Rit) Srl; Technomont Taranto Srl; TPS Taranto Srl, Siples Srl; Consortium Chio.me; Chiome Srl and Consorzio Navalmeccanico Taranto-CNT to ascertain the existence of violations of art. 101 of the TFEU.
As stated in the Agcm provision, the procedure will be completed by 31 December 2022.
RECIDES TPS TARANTO, MAREN, CHIOME, TECHNOMONT AND COMERIN
But it doesn't stop there.
Some of these companies from Taranto had already ended up in the crosshairs of the Antitrust and the yellow flames.
From the investigations conducted at the Taranto arsenal at the beginning of 2020, some repeat offenders were investigated: in 2015 the Antitrust sanctioned the same subjects for a cartel on Navy procurement.
"In the provision dating back to 2013, in fact, the Antitrust had ascertained that the companies Tecnosit, Tps Taranto, Maren, Chio.me, Technomont, Comerin, Work Service, Metalblok, Sait, Siman and Coibesa managed to monopolize the tenders announced by the Taranto shipyard. Not only. The Authority for Competition and the Market had issued sanctions ranging from a minimum of 14 thousand euros up to a maximum of over 1 million euros. A decision that was subsequently confirmed by the Lazio TAR which, however, had considerably reduced the sanctions after the pronouncement of the Council of State " reports il Fatto Quotidiano in February 2020.
WHAT THE SAN MARCO SHIP DOES
As stated on the Navy website , Nave San Marco is the second ship of the San Giorgio class, it was launched in 1987 and its usual port of assignment is the Naval Base of Brindisi, where since 1 November 2013 it organically depends on the Comgrupnav Uno.
The ship of the Italian Navy is part of the European mission called "Operation Sophia". San Marco operates in the Mediterranean mainly to combat illicit trafficking (fight against smugglers, arms trafficking and information gathering on oil trafficking).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/nave-san-marco-chi-sono-le-aziende-sotto-la-lente-di-anac-e-gdf/ on Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:28:17 +0000.