Arachne is a risk-scoring tool of the European Commission that helps managing authorities identify projects with a higher probability of fraud, conflict of interest or irregularity. It links data from the project information system with external databases – the commercial register, financial statements, ownership structures and sanctions lists – and assigns a risk score to every project, beneficiary or contractor. The signals monitored include personal and ownership links between the contracting authority and the winning contractor, repeated wins by the same entity, disproportionate prices, companies with no employees or no track record, or a short time between a company's establishment and winning a contract. A high score is not, by itself, evidence of wrongdoing or grounds for rejecting an application – it serves to focus controls where the risk is greatest, typically through more in-depth document checks or on-the-spot checks.
See also: Conflict of interest, Irregularity, On-the-spot check.
