With 170 votes in favour, 30 against and 40 abstentions, the Senate gave the definitive green light to the reform of the Public Procurement Code. It's about a enabling law which gives the Government the task of implementing three European directives on concession contracts, public tenders and procurement procedures for entities supplying water, energy, transport and postal services.
The provision was approved more than a year after its presentation to Parliament. At this point, the Executive has until 18 April to implement the European directives, while the deadline for launching the new Code of contracts and concessions expires on 31 July.
However, the Government intends to adopt a "single legislative decree" by 18 April which contains the transposition of the directives and the reorganization of the Procurement Code. The enabling law provides more transparency and publicity in tenders, more controls with a strong supervisory role entrusted to the Anac it's a brake on the use of variants during construction which up to now have caused the cost of the works to rise dramatically.
With the delegation comes then definitively passed the objective law, a rule defined as "criminogenic" by the Canton, and immediately canceled the possibility of entrusting the role of construction management to general contractors.
Compared to the first version of the text issued by the Senate, the Chamber approved some changes, such as the expansion of the possibility of using integrated procurement and the exceptions to the principle of awarding with public tenders: in the matter of concessions for works and services public, the obligation to assign tenders concerns 80% of cases, while for 20% the possibility of in-house assignment remains.
It will also come an ad hoc discipline for contracts with an amount lower than the thresholds of Community significance. The contracts excluded from the scope of application of the European directives will be identified and introduced sanctions in case of omitted or betrayed report to the Anac of extortion and bribery requests or for the failure or delay in communication by the contracting authorities on the variations during construction. Notices and invitations to tender they will have to be published only in online newspapers and no longer also in paper ones.
In Montecitorio finally got the go-ahead for the rule that aims to protect call center workers: in the event of succession of companies in the contract with the same client and for the same call center activity, the employment relationship continues with the incoming contractor.
Among the delegation criteria there is also the reduction of the documentary burdens on the participants; the containment of times and the full verifiability of financial flows; the rationalization and extension of the forms of public-private partnership; the review of the qualification system for economic operators; the rationalization of alternative dispute resolution methods to the judicial remedy, also in relation to the execution of the contract; the improvement of access conditions, for small and medium-sized enterprises and newly established enterprises, to the market of public tenders and concessions; the identification of methods aimed at guaranteeing the minimum levels of competitiveness, transparency and equal treatment; transparency in the possible participation of qualified stakeholders in decision-making processes aimed at planning and awarding public contracts and concessions.
