Tumult at German-headquartered software company SAP continued, with Bloomberg reporting the company has been investigated by US authorities over price-fixing claims relating to $2 billion-worth of services for at least two years.

The news outlet stated a probe by US Department of Justice (DoJ) solicitors into claims SAP and others fleeced the government for ten-years had been running since at least 2022, heaping woe on the software company recently hit by an executive scandal involving its CTO.

A recent change of judge brought the action to light, Bloomberg explained.

Alongside SAP, Bloomberg named Carahsoft Technology as a target of the DoJ investigation: the company bills itself as “the trusted public sector IT solutions provider”, with services spanning security, cloud and AI, among others.

Bloomberg reported court documents reveal the civilian-led investigation focuses on allegations SAP and Carahsoft Technology colluded on fees charged to the US Department of Defence and other government entities.

Call the cops
It reported FBI agents and other investigators raided Carahsoft Technology’s offices yesterday (24 September) and a company representative explained this related to a third-party business it had worked with.

Bloomberg emphasised there was no verifiable connection between this and the SAP probe and noted such investigations do not necessarily result in formal action being taken.

However, the investigation does shed light on the complex relationships between government IT service providers. A unit of consultancy Accenture is also in the spotlight over the price-fixing claim: a representative told Bloomberg it is cooperating with authorities.

Bloomberg noted Carahsoft Technology is bested only by Dell Technologies in terms of the value of US government contracts it holds, with SAP products dominating its business with the nation, with in excess of 600 contracts valued at “more than $990 million” and a potential $1 billion-worth of “additional sales” being enabled, albeit the news outlet acknowledged the proportion involved in the probe is unknown.