Antitrust

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New Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification rules, which took effect in February, require that companies now provide more information than ever before about their prospective mergers. Meanwhile, both federal and state antitrust enforcers continue to step up scrutiny of data-related antitrust harms such as information sharing, monopolization, and price coordination, and private litigants are also filing claims. Data has long been used by companies to benchmark performance metrics, from pricing to inventory levels, and to manage revenue. But as data volume has increased, so too has the risk of violating antitrust laws through higher levels of interconnection. Big data could facilitate price coordination, potentially rising to the level of price fixing, and could thus entrench the market power of companies that have amassed data critical to the ability to compete.Continue Reading Mo’ Data, Mo’ Problems: Antitrust Risk in the Age of Big Data

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced a task force designed to eliminate anticompetitive state and federal laws and regulations that “undermine free market competition and harm consumers, workers, and businesses.” This followed President Trump’s Executive Order 14192, which had similar goals, and the Federal Trade Commission joined the DOJ in its announcement.Continue Reading The US Antitrust Agencies Join Forces to Cut the Red Tape 

As the second Trump administration reaches its 60-day mark, it is a good time to take stock of the US antitrust agencies’ actions. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) have been busy despite the broader government shakeup. Enforcement patterns are emerging. For example, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson has been transparent about his priorities—health care, technology platform dominance, and labor. As the timeline below shows, he has wasted no time in implementing initiatives and enforcement in these areas. As for the DOJ, Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater was sworn in last week, and her enforcement priorities will likely take more shape in the coming 60 days. The DOJ, however, has remained active, especially in the Sherman Act enforcement space.Continue Reading Antitrust in Trump 2.0—the First 60 Days

The US Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ or Division) recently released a revised Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs in Criminal Antitrust Investigations (Guidance). The Guidance reflects how the Division assesses the effectiveness and adequateness of a company’s antitrust compliance program. The Guidance offers insight into the Division’s evaluations of antitrust compliance programs at the charging and the sentencing stages of a criminal prosecution but is equally applicable to civil compliance. Adherence to the Guidance improves the chances a company can receive leniency and reduces the risk of prosecution should a violation occur.Continue Reading Antitrust Corporate Compliance Programs: Late 2024 Changes Mean Companies Should Revisit Their Programs Early in 2025

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Procurement Collusion Strike Force (PCSF, or Strike Force) celebrates its third anniversary this month. Formed in November 2019 as an interagency partnership consisting of DOJ’s antitrust prosecutors, lawyers in 13 U.S. attorneys’ offices, and investigators from the FBI and federal Offices of Inspector General, the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service, the Strike Force leverages joint resources to investigate public procurement crimes, employ complementary enforcement and prosecution strategies, eliminate anticompetitive collusion and fraud, and promote the integrity of government procurement. Employing education and state-level liaising, the Strike Force has been remarkably omnipresent and successful in that short time, despite numerous pandemic-related interruptions/delays in the courts. The pace of the Strike Force’s enforcement activity has quickened dramatically in 2022—and shows no signs of slowing in 2023.
Continue Reading DOJ’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force: Widening Its Stride on Its Third Anniversary

One of the bedrock principles of federal contracting is the demand for “full and open competition through the use of competitive procedures.”  In order to foster competition and reduce costs, the Competition in Contracting Act was passed into law in 1984 in an effort to enhance competition in procurements and thereby reduce costs, eliminate waste and abuse, and protect taxpayer dollars.  The effort to root out corruption and promote competition continues with the recent announcement by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the newly formed Procurement Collusion Strike Force (“Strike Force”), with additional details and training materials—and an imposing antitrust violation complaint form—available on its recently launched website.
Continue Reading New DOJ Strike Force Targets Collusion in Federal Contract Awards