Assessing the investments sustainability after the new code on public contracts

Abstract

The new Code on Contracts regulations reaffirmed the central role of assessment in procedures for public works construction. However, it has significantly distorted the sense of the previous rules where the preliminary investment assessment was essential and was implemented through the feasibility study. What happened, then, to the feasibility studies? Maybe the intentions of Legislative Decree no. 50/2016 were mixed, but the preliminary project and the feasibility study was erased, now at least formally. Why has the legislature felt the need to eliminate such an important study? So far was the feasibility study to identify the most proper management aspects, not the preliminary project, not the final draft or the executive project. The Italian tradition has unfortunately too often led to the creation of works with no real requirement to be satisfied without worrying about the sustainability of the operating costs. The only thought is on allocated resources available for construction. This has generated works partially unused, slightly used, and/or often obsolescent because the contracting authorities try to confirm that the asset portion is actually used while decreasing resources. This paper focuses on multi-annual programming, which has seen the most relevant changes while investigating the economic and procedural implications consequential to the new Code.