Procurement Code, that’s why the Anti-corruption doesn’t like it

ROME. «The boost to digitize procurement under the new Code is good. Be careful, however, to shift attention only to “doing it quickly”, which can never lose sight of “doing it right”» argues the president of Anti-corruption Giuseppe Busia, after the Council of Ministers approved the new Code of contracts. «Simplification and speed are important values ​​- he explains – but they cannot go to the detriment of equally important principles such as transparency, controllability and free competition, which have not found all the necessary attention in the new Code, especially in a phase of the country in which they are pouring in huge European resources”.
The president of Anac also underlines the positive aspects of the new Code. “With the entirely digital management of contracts, envisaged by the Code and Anac’s commitment for some time, the extension of digital to the entire life cycle of the contract will be guaranteed, starting from programming, to requesting the tender identification code, up to the execution and conclusion of the contract, and the last invoice. This – he claims – brings to full maturity what Anac has already done with the “National database of public contracts: all the information and activities concerning the contract will have to pass through interoperable telematic platforms and converge on the Authority’s portal, with the direct data acquisition.
For Busia, however, many doubts also remain, “for the reduction of transparency and publicity of the procedures, principles placed to guarantee a better participation of the companies, and to protect the rights of all the subjects involved”. «Thresholds that are too high – says Busia – for direct assignments and negotiated procedures make smaller contracts less contestable and less controllable, which are – it should be noted – the numerically more significant ones. All this with the risk of reducing competition and transparency in public contracts”.
Among the positive aspects of the Code, Busia underlines the strengthening of «collaborative supervision, one of the most effective prevention tools that allows Anac to intervene promptly and guarantee the legality in the awarding procedures, without wasting any time. The Public Administrations that adhere to it submit the tender documents to the Authority in advance, which in a very short time – from 5 to 8 days – provides observations and advice, favoring the deflation of the dispute”. Another positive element, for Busia «is the increased role of Anac in aiding and supporting the contracting stations with the creation of standard notices, standard documents, ready-made deeds, which the administrations can use. It is a form of collaboration and the promotion of “good practices”, in the spirit of problem solving». Thus, concludes the president of Anaci, «the Authority’s action is being strengthened to favor the recovery, supporting the administrations on the contracts side, to make them effective tools for implementing the many projects put in place, guaranteeing openness, competition and capacity to select the most suitable, dynamic and innovative companies to serve the public interest. Through standard contracts, for example, and our IT platforms, compliance with collective labor agreements will be monitored, avoiding the adoption of so-called pirate contracts, as a guarantee for workers”.