Again and again, and then again. Reformism seems to have become the mission to be fulfilled at any cost, as long as it is. Not always, indeed almost never probably, an activism of this consistency could correspond to useful results in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

It is difficult to deny the circumstance since, suddenly, a "chase" seems to have reopened, a race against time towards "simplification", and the Procurement Code would seem to represent its reflection.

Probably, and the formula of doubt is always and in any case appropriate, it is difficult to understand that the first form of complication, of the creation of useless superstructures, is precisely the excessive need to proceed in the direction of legislative production through reforms which, after all, are more that hitting the problem upstream, i.e. the chronic state bureaucratization, affects, and most of the times negatively, the safety and regularity of the forms, consequently compromising the substance of the intervention.

There does not seem to be any doubt that the country needs access to simplified forms in the relationship with the Public Administrations, with the Entities, or only in the context of legal relationships of a private nature: the difficult thing is to offer solutions that can satisfy the need to guarantee the equal balance between access, allow the expression, to the enjoyment of the right or the chance, and its unraveling in the internal context directly involving the relationship between companies and the Public Administration and in the external application context.

At a first, necessarily summary reading of the new Procurement Code, barring an error, it would seem that there is no identification of valid criteria for the ex ante selection of the subjects of the relationship: with all consequences on the regularity of the procedures with good likelihood.

What will happen to the principle of competition? All the more when it is understood, from the clarifications of the Ministry conducted by the Secretary of the League, that "the contracting authorities will be able to decide to activate negotiated procedures or direct assignments, respecting the principle of rotation", and furthermore up to one hundred and fifty thousand euros it will be possible to proceed, at least this would appear, with direct awarding, where up to 1 million can activate the negotiated procedure in the absence of a tender by inviting a certain number of companies, which would increase for works below the threshold of five point 38 million. Meaning that the tender intended strictly will be confined to the same extent as a residual event reserved for the residual tranche of the works, characterized by greater consistency and attractiveness.

The doubts of the President Giuseppe Busia are far from extemporaneous and unfounded, above all regarding the so-called contracts that the Public Administration could find itself stipulating for public works and supplies. Not every perplexity is instrumental or simply oppositional. The comparison should never fail, especially on the part of those who, in the Government, support the need to guarantee legality on a daily basis. In other words: how could legality, correctness and transparency be guaranteed in the absence, under certain conditions, of a public tender? Direct awarding could risk reverberating in a negative sense in the absence of external control where there may be a danger, as underlined by the Anac President, that in small Municipalities contracts can be stipulated on the strength of personal relationships potentially useful for "favouring" certain instead of others? Oh well, it is said that «those who change the old road for the new one have had the test». But perhaps it is not really the time to experiment, especially when the country is already in economically complex conditions which would require significant and not only marginal investments.

So let's be clear: no one, unlike what the Minister of Transport would seem to believe, wants to reduce reflections on the point to a mere, however useless, political battle, since the need for correctness, transparency and legality are not the exclusive prerogative of the right or left. They are, and should be, common aspirations, and as such, they should be the subject of mature and responsible discussion. An element that today seems really missing unfortunately.

The reflection of the President Giuseppe Busia is indisputable according to which it would be, as in fact it is, the "negative, braking" bureaucracy, while instead that special and good bureaucracy which is concerned with guaranteeing checks on the good work of the interacting subjects, which guarantees controls to offer the maximum assurance of respect for rights, for the sole purpose of proceeding in the direction of useful spending.

Why not lend an ear to concerns of this kind that have nothing political about them but are merely an expression of common sense? Opportunities and growth are a direct and immediate consequence of the ability to relate on multiple levels, especially on the part of those who govern and aspire to do it well. Alone you do not go forward or backward. It remains stationary with good likelihood. Unity is always strength. Sharing also responsibilities and choices.

Confronting means accepting the other's point of view, an "other" who, in the case in question, appears to be highly qualified as well, and as such, can contribute to enriching the new Code in the direction of full efficiency.

Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro

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