The anti-disturbance system in public tenders: a critical and methodological analysis

Abstract

The market of public contracts feeds most of the national construction market, with important consequences on the country’s professional and production associations, which have been suffering for a crisis that has now lasted for over 10 years. When the competition level rises, businesses increase rebates, with important repercussions for Public Administration on the stability of the subject matter of the contract, be it work, services or supply. After the new Code of Public Contracts was issued in 2016, and after the subsequent corrective measures of 2017 and the numerous ANAC Guidelines, the public consultation on the Code that recently came to an end demonstrated Italy’s interest in unlocking this situation and understanding the issues of the stakeholders that operate in this sector. Within this general framework, the aim of this article is to address in depth one of the more debated topics – the anomaly of the supply – and to highlight the impacts that the relevant regulations have on the way calls for tenders are carried out. The phenomenon will be presented and described both in terms of national legislation and in terms of the state of the art, at the international level as well; later we will apply the methods for determining the anomaly threshold provided for by the current legislation to some case studies, with the double aim to highlight their critical issues and orient future research in this field.

Keywords

• abnormally low bid
• code of contracts
• anti-disturbance system
• call for tenders
• lowest price
• economically most advantageous tender
• contractor selection
• public procurement