Reform of the Public Procurement Code
The reform of the Italian Public Procurement Code is currently passing through Parliament but is scheduled to come into force on 1st April 2023, with its provisions set to take effect from 1st July 2023 (although the latest rumours suggest that the code could come into force from 2024).
The key changes set to come in force are summarised below:
- There will be new principles to be observed during the public evidence procedure.
- Parties will be obliged to renegotiate contracts where "[…] extraordinary and unforeseeable circumstances occur that are outside the scope of normal risk, ordinary economic fluctuation and market risk and are such as to significantly alter the original balance of the contract […]" .
- The rule that previously prohibited cascade subcontracting will be scrapped, opening up the possibility that a subcontractor may, in turn, subcontract part of the services entrusted to him.
- And again, another novelty concerns procedures below the European threshold: these follow the rules provided for direct awarding and for negotiated procedures in the so-called "Simplification Decree COVID-19" (Decree-Law No. 76/2020). The rotation principle is established according to which, in the event of a negotiated procedure, it is prohibited to proceed directly to the award of a contract to the outgoing contractor. In all sub-threshold contract awards, dilatory deadlines, both procedural and procedural in nature, are excluded.
- The general contractor is reintroduced. With these contracts, the economic operator 'is required to pursue an administrative result by means of the professional and specialized services provided, in exchange for a consideration determined in relation to the result obtained and the activity normally required to obtain it'.
