Italy ∙ Brief Overview on Latest Intervention on Italian Public Procurement Discipline Aimed at Hindering the COVID-19 Economic Crisis

Abstract

By Regulations (EU) 2021/240 and (EU) 2021/241, last February the European Union has allocated extraordinary funds to sustain the economies of those Member States that had been most badly affected by the COVID-19 epidemic crisis by implementing the well-known Recovery Plan ‘Next Generation EU’ The conditions for the actual distributions of the funds are that beneficiary States use the capital grants only to implement structural reforms and investments capable of generating further economic development and productivity and to pursue EU policies, such as decarbonisation and environmental improvement, digitalisation and inclusion across the Union. Since its promulgation the new Public Procurement Code, in fact, has been object of stringent criticism by experts and operators. To summarise, commentators have mainly censured the fact that the Italian discipline, originally intended at simplifying the previous legislation and reduce administrative burdens on operators in order to boost the market, has instead resulted in unnecessary complications and unclear provisions, multiplication of, in some instances, conflicting normative sources, violations of the gold-plating prohibitions provided for by the relevant directives, greatly reducing discretion of awarding authorities.