Procurement code or Genoa model? The doubt concerns one of the most important chapters of the Simplifications decree, a provision that should arrive in the Council of Ministers at the end of this week or at the beginning of next. Government and social partners are divided on the best way to relaunch public works in Italy.
Here are the main locations.
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: THE GENOA MODEL
The first deployment proposes to extend the strategy followed for the reconstruction of the Morandi bridge in Genoa on a national scale: very fast procedures implemented by extraordinary commissioners. Supporting this model are the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, the new number one of Confindustria, Carlo Bonomi (who explicitly asked for the suspension of the Procurement Code) and Italia Viva. Matteo Renzi's party has already presented the "Italia Shock" plan to the Executive, which envisages giving broad powers to the commissioners, but under the control of the Anti-Corruption Authority (Anac).
THE PROCUREMENT CODE
On the other side of the fence there are a large part of the Democratic Party (including the Minister of Transport, Paola De Micheli), the Anac itself, the trade unions of the sector and the National Association of Building Builders (Ance). According to this alignment, the Genoa model would not guarantee full competition between companies, so the best idea would be to maintain code of the Procurement by triggering - at least for the rest of 2020 - the emergency procedures, which would in any case allow for a significant acceleration of public works.
THE CANCELLERI PROJECT
Between the two main positions is the proposal of the Deputy Minister of Transport, Giancarlo Cancelleri (M5S), who would like to attribute the powers of commissioners to the managing directors of Anas and Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI). The goal is to unlock 300 works worth 109 billion.
THE MEASURES COMING WITH THE SIMPLIFICATIONS DECREE
The general strategy remains to be chosen, but the government intends to include a series of precise rules in the Simplifications decree to speed up the procurement procedures. In particular, two important changes should concern public officials and privacy. The former will see their load of responsibility reduced, so that they will no longer have a reason to indefinitely postpone signing, a practice that is widespread today due to the fear of incurring complaints for tax damage. On the second front, the rules will be rationalized to remove the obstacles that currently slow down the passage of documents between the various public administrations.
Furthermore, the government is considering introducing a "company passport", which would allow companies to know immediately if they are eligible to participate in a tender.
As far as construction is concerned, the aim is to simplify the issuing of housing permits and to lighten building costs. In this case, the goal is to discourage the construction of new buildings for the benefit of redevelopment (with ecobonus and earthquake bonus) or demolition and reconstruction works with unchanged volumes.
Finally, with the simplifications decree, the rules for the laying of ultra-fast fiber optic cables and the rules on innovative startups, often hindered by the ordinances of local authorities, should also be modified.
