Public contracts

The Council of State confirmed the illegality of the resolution of the Municipality of Seregno which approved a complex corporate integration project between its subsidiary and A2A S.p.A.. The judgment is particularly interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it is confirmed that a public tender must be carried out in circumstances such as those of the present case, and secondly, it remains to be seen what consequences the ruling will have on the operation.

With the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union that is going to be analyzed herein, the European judge focuses on the primary purpose of investigating the possibility of considering the Italian F.I.G.C. (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio) a body governed by public law. In this respect, the comment aims at summarizing the main issues concerning the mentioned body, especially with regard to the conditions provided for by law in order to recognize such public entity. At the end of the note some critical considerations will be made about the decision.

With decision no. 6787 of November 3, 2020, the Council of State recognizes and analyzes the legitimacy of the National Anti-Corruption Authority to act, following the legislative amendment of art. 211 of the Code of public contracts (Legislative Decree no. 56/2017) which introduced paragraphs 1-bis and 1-ter to the aforementioned provision.

The contribution analyzes some critical issues in the procedures for entrusting the implementation of telematic booking systems for anti covid-19 vaccines. In particular, the Author emphasizes how the assignment to in-house companies has been unsuccessful. The Author also criticizes the choice of not reusing software solutions already developed for other public administrations. The comment concludes suggesting that the health emergency in progress should rather have led to make the best of the support that private operators could provide.

The paper aims to analyze the judgment C-367/19 with which the Court of Justice expressed itself on the age-old problem that afflicts the public procurement system: the tenders at price of € 0 and the legal basis for their exclusion. The case dealt with by the Court concerns the preliminary ruling proposed by the National Commission for the review of the procedures for the award of public contracts as to whether it was possible to base the provision for the exclusion of a bid at price of € 0 on Article 2, par. 1, § 5, of Directive 2014/24 / EU.

Approaching the summer season, the destiny of beach resorts and establishments is a subject of notable interest, because it also raises unresolved questions from the point of view of the relationship, often full of contradictions, between national administrative law and the principles of European Union law. Therefore, clear rules need to be defined in order to allow the summer season to take place safely both for operators and tourists. It is also of paramount importance to overcome the inertia of the legislator with regard to the reform of this sector, concerning overall the expiry of ongoing concessions on the basis of the principles of public evidence established by the EU Treaties and by the “Services Directive” 123/2006/CE (which includes in its scope of applications maritime, lake and river concessions). In this sense, the emergency could be the right moment to adopt measures that take into account each specific situation as to protect the legitimate expectations of the concession holders (in any case in compliance with what has already been affirmed by the EU Court following a preliminary ruling in joined cases C-458/14 e C-67/15, Promoimpresa e sig. Melis. In addition this allows to make further reflections on "Emergency Administration" on the bases of the provisions suggested by the technical committees in order to contain contagion from Covid19 and concerning also the seaside businesses.  Decisions required to deal with the crisis must certainly be inspired by the precautionary principle, but they must also respect the principle of proportionality as to limit unsuitable effects on other emerging interests, including the impact on the stability of the EU single market (of services).

The article proposes new forms of participation and financing of public works that ensure the involvement of the population thanks to the solutions made possible by blockchain. The contribution starts from the consideration that the financing of public initiatives affects administrations and citizens closely, both as users and as taxpayers. The city is thus understood as an innovation laboratory, where virtuous solutions can be experimented and implemented while maintaining a close connection to the population. To this end, concrete solutions are proposed for innovative, traceable and sustainable financing of public infrastructures, activated with the new tools developed on blockchain technology.

This paper analyzes the order n. 8501/2019 of Referral to the Plenary Session about the possibility for a subject, even if not direct holder of a concrete interest, to request the viewing of documents belonging to the PA, through the generalized civic access ex art. 5, c. 2, Legislative Decree 33/2013. In the case here analyzed, reference is made to the possibility of using the tool of generalized civic access in public procurement.

The emergency caused by the Covid-19 pandemic leads us to reflect on tools that Public Administrations can use on public procurement contracts (services, supplies, works) about healthcare. The analysis will focus on italian “Public Contract Code”, on Ordinances n. 630 and 639/2020 (Civil Protection Department), and European Commission Communication 1.04.2020.