Incentives for technical functions: scope and allocation rules after the corrective decree

Article 45 of the Italian public contracts code allows contracting authorities to set aside funds for incentives covering technical functions performed by their own staff, up to two per cent of the value of works, services and supplies used as the basis for the tender. The activities that qualify are those listed in Annex I.10; of the amount set aside, eighty per cent goes to the staff who performed the functions, while the remainder stays earmarked for the authority’s own instrumental purposes. Legislative Decree 209/2024 also removed the exclusion of senior managers from the class of beneficiaries.

Litigation continues to focus on the conditions rather than the amounts: the need for internal rules governing the criteria and methods of allocation, the actual performance of the function by the employee, the attribution of the cost to the individual contract, and the relationship with the items in the financial framework. Where internal rules are missing or generic, payment remains exposed to audit challenge, because the incentive is a derogation from the principle that pay is all-inclusive and must therefore be construed narrowly.

Summary note by the CommercialistiAvvocati network, based on specialised legal and practice sources. The text does not reproduce original contributions and does not constitute professional advice.