• Text of delegated law on public contracts published in Official Journal 

• Significant measures in terms of contract price revisions 

• Strengthening procedural simplification measures and reviewing surety guarantee system

Milan, 28 June 2022 - “The approval of the delegated law on public contracts is a significant step forward for the infrastructure sector in Italy, confirming the government’s determination in pursuing the reforms and objectives set out in the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan). Now it is important that everyone plays their part”. This is how Webuild CEO Pietro Salini commented on the publication of the delegated law on public contracts in Italian Official Journal No. 146 of 24 June 2022. 

The delegated law lays down fundamental principles for reviving the sector, principles which must inspire the legislative decrees for the reform of the public contracts code. These principles include:

i)    Price revision obligation. The delegated law introduces the obligation for contracting authorities to include in contract notices, tenders, and invitations, a mandatory price revision scheme upon the occurrence of certain objective conditions that could not be foreseen at the time the bid was formulated. It also stipulates that any charges resulting from the aforementioned revision mechanism will be paid with the available financial resources for the work and with any other resources available to the contracting authority, to be used in compliance with the accounting procedures for expenditure;

ii)    Rationalising and simplifying the grounds for exclusion, in order to make the rules for participation clear and certain;

iii)    Simplifying the procedures relating to the approval phase of public works projects, with a view to fostering a reduction and streamlining of existing procedures; 

iv)    Reviewing and simplifying the general qualification system for economic operators, with a view to valuing, among other things, implementation capacities, technical and professional skills, suitability of technical equipment and staffing, as well as operators’ respect for legality;

v)    Redefining the provisions regulating changes during work in progress, within the limits provided for by European law, with the possibility of amending contracts during the performance phase;

vi)    Encouraging flexible procedures - such as competitive dialogue, innovation partnership, framework agreement procedures and competitive procedures with negotiation - for entering into complex, long-term public contracts, while respecting the principles of transparency and competitiveness;

vii)     Extending public-private partnerships with regard to service concessions, project finance and leasing of public works and public utilities, in order to make these procedures attractive to professional investors, as well as to operators in the public works and service concession market;

viii)    Simplifying and accelerating the methods for payment of the contractual fees by contracting authorities, also by reducing the administrative burden on companies;

ix)     Extending and strengthening alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, including for contract performance matters; 

x)    Reviewing the system of surety guarantees connected to bidding for and performing public contracts, providing for the possibility of substituting guarantees for the performance of contracts with a withholding guarantee proportionate to the amount of the contract upon payment of each work milestone;

xi)    Identifying the cases in which contracting stations may resort to a joint award for the design and execution of works, subject to holding the necessary qualification for drawing up the projects; 

xii)    Rationalising the penalty and reward system, with a view to encouraging the timely execution of public contracts, and also with a view to extending their scope of application.