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SDG - Public contracts - participating in public tenders: rules and procedures; submitting a bid online in response to a public call for tender

Information provided by the Ministry of infrastructures and transport updated on 30-11-2020

With regard to public procurement in Italy, EU Directives 2014/24 EU and 2014/25 EU are implemented by Legislative Decree No 36 of 2023 entitled ‘Public Procurement Code’ (Codice dei contratti pubblici). Among other things, this Code regulates procedures that administrations must follow for the awarding of contracts, which are identical to those provided for in the above Directives.

A summary of legislative references followed by Italian law is set out below.

Participation in tenders: rules and procedures

With regard to public procurement in Italy, EU Directives 2014/24 EU and 2014/25 EU are implemented by Legislative Decree No 36/23 entitled ‘Public Procurement Code’ (Codice dei contratti pubblici) entered into force on 1 April 2023 and became effective from 1 July 2023. Among other things, this Code regulates procedures and specific steps that administrations must follow for the awarding of contracts, which are identical to those provided for in the above Directives.

References to Italian legislation are set out below.

Different types of public procurement procedures

• Open procedures (Articles 71 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended )
• Restricted procedures (Articles 72 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended )
• Competitive procedure with negotiation (Article 73 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice (Article 76 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Competitive dialogue (Article 74 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Innovation partnership (Article 75 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)

Special procedures for electronic and aggregated procurement

• Framework Agreement (Article 59 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Dynamic purchasing systems (Article 32 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Electronic auctions (Article 33 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Electronic catalogues (Article 34 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)
• Digital procurement platforms (Article 25 Legislative Decree 36/2023, as amended)

Procedures below the European threshold

For contracts with an amount below the EU thresholds, Article 48-55 of Legislative Decree 36/2023, provide for simplified award procedures in compliance with the principle of rotating invitations and awards in order to give micro, small and medium-sized enterprises an effective opportunity to participate. Specifically, the art. 50 of Legislative Decree 36/2023, in relation to the amounts, establishes:

• direct assignment for works worth less than 150,000 euros, even without consulting multiple economic operators, ensuring that subjects in possession of documented previous experience suitable for the execution of contractual services are chosen, also identified among those registered in lists or registers established by the contracting authority;
• direct assignment of services and supplies, including engineering and architectural services and design activities, for an amount of less than 140,000 euros, even without consulting multiple economic operators, ensuring that subjects in possession of documented previous experience are chosen suitable for the execution of contractual services, also identified among those registered in lists or registers established by the contracting authority;
• Fnegotiated procedure without tender, after consulting at least five economic operators, where existing, identified on the basis of market surveys or through lists of economic operators, for works with an amount equal to or greater than 150,000 euros and less than 1 million euros ;
• negotiated procedure without tender, after consulting at least ten economic operators, where existing, identified on the basis of market surveys or through lists of economic operators, for works of an amount equal to or greater than 1 million euros and up to the thresholds set out in article 14, without prejudice to the possibility of resorting to the procedures for choosing the contractor referred to in Part IV of this Book;
• negotiated procedure without tender, after consulting at least five economic operators, where existing, identified on the basis of market surveys or through lists of economic operators, for the awarding of services and supplies, including engineering and architectural services and design activity, for an amount equal to or greater than 140,000 euros and up to the thresholds referred to in article 14.

Different rules determined by the type of tender

Special rules apply to award procedures in certain sectors, as described below:

• Catering service contracts (Article 130 of Legislative Decree 36/2023) the catering services indicated in Annex XIV to Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 are awarded exclusively on the basis of the criterion of the most economically advantageous offer, identified on the basis of the best quality/price ratio. Public institutions that manage school and hospital canteens may provide, in the tenders concerning the related supply services, in compliance with article 6, paragraph 1, of law 18 August 2015, n. 141, priority criteria for the inclusion of agri-food products coming from social agriculture operators.

The activity of issuing meal vouchers, referred to in art. 131 of the Legislative Decree. n. 36/2023 is reserved for joint-stock companies, with paid-up capital of no less than 750,000 euros and established with this specific corporate purpose, whose financial statements must be accompanied by the report drawn up by an auditing company registered in the register established at the Ministry of Justice for pursuant to article 2409-bis of the civil code.

• The awarding of classified contracts (Article 139), i.e. contracts classified as secret or whose performance must be accompanied by special security measures, takes place after an informal tender procedure to which at least five economic operators meeting Code and security clearance requirements are invited.
• The performance of emergency and civil protection works (Article 140) may be awarded directly and in derogation of the procedures referred to in articles 37 and 41 of the code, to one or more economic operators identified by the administration.

Cases when a tenderer may be excluded from the tender procedure

The reasons for excluding an economic operator from participation in a procurement procedure are regulated in articles 94-98 of Legislative Decree No 36/2023, where a distinction is made between causes for automatic exclusion and causes for non-automatic exclusion.

Time frame for submission of an offer by the tenderer (from publication of the offer)

Each tender procedure has a single minimum time limit for submission of tenders, which is the same for all competitors and identical to that provided for in EU Directives.

In accordance with EU Directives, contracting entities are allowed the opportunity of further reducing minimum periods when certain conditions are met.

The following summary tables are provided for convenience.

OPEN PROCEDURES
Purpose of submission	Minimum time limit	Effective date
Reception of tenders	ORDINARY: 30 days	From the date of transmission of the tender notice pursuant to article 84
	SHORTENED: 15 days
RESTRICTED PROCEDURE
Purpose of submission	Minimum time limit		Effective date
Reception of requests for participation	ORDINARY: 30 days SHORTENED: 15 days		From the date on which the contract notice was sent or, if a prior information notice is used, the date when the invitation to confirm interest is sent
Reception of tenders	ORDINARY: 30 days		From the date on which the invitation to tender was sent
	SHORTENED: 10 days

 

REASONS FOR SHORTENING TIME LIMITS
Procedure type	Conditions
Open	-  a) the prior information notice contains all the information required for the tender notice referred to in Annex II.6, Part I, letter B, section B.1, provided that this is available at the time of publication of the notice pre-information; -  b) the pre-information notice was sent for publication no less than thirty-five days and no more than twelve months before the date of transmission of the tender notice.
Restricted	-  a) the prior information notice contains all the information required in Annex II.6, Part I, letter B, section B.1, provided that such information is available at the time of publication of the prior information notice; -  b) the pre-information notice was sent no less than thirty-five days and no more than twelve months before the date of transmission of the tender notice.

Time limit for submission of tenders

	WITHOUT PRIOR INFORMATION	WITH PRIOR INFORMATION
Ordinary time limit with accessible acts (Article 71(2) of the Code)	30 days from the date of transmission of the tender notice pursuant to article 84	shortened by 15 days, but under the conditions set out in Article 71(4) of the Code
Urgent (Article 71(3) of the Code)	15 days from the date on which the contract notice was sent pursuant to art. 84

 

Documents to be attached to the request by a tenderer

In order to participate in a public tender, the general requirements set out in the Public Procurement Code (Articles 94-98) are met by filling in the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), (Article 91, paragraph 3). The ESPD form is available at the following link: https://www.agid.gov.it/it/piattaforme/procurement/documento-gara-unico-europeo

The technical, economic and professional requirements declared in the ESPD, for EU competitors, are set out in the e-Certis online register, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/tools/ecertis/#/search

Where public tenders are published

• At European level (art. 84): notices, prior information notices and notices relating to contracts awarded for an amount equal to or greater than the thresholds referred to in article 14 are drawn up by the contracting authorities and transmitted to the Publications Office of the European Union, through the National Database of Public Contracts, in accordance with methods compliant with Annex II.7. Confirmation by the said Office of receipt and notice of the publication transmitted, with indication of the date of publication, is valid as proof of publication.
• At national level (art. 85): the notices, pre-information notices and those relating to the contracts awarded are published, only after the publication referred to in article 84, on the ANAC national database of public contracts and on the institutional site of the contracting authority or granting body.

How to submit electronic invoices

Information

Procurement planning information sources

The three-year program for the purchase of goods and services and the three-year and annual program for public works (art. 37, co. 4) are published on the institutional website and in the national database of public contracts through the Public Contracts Service.

Sources of information on the implementation of procurement procedures, including contract awards and contract performance

Information on procurement procedures, including awards, are published:

• on the website of the contracting entity, referred to as the customer profile;
• on a digital platform set up within ANAC (The National Database of Public Contracts – BDNCP)

Contract performance information is published on the corporate websites of the contracting entities.

Submitting an online tender in response to a public invitation to tender

Information can be obtained on the platform indicated in the tender documentation obtained from the contracting entity

Public contracts reporting irregularities in relation to the tender process

Information