In-house awards: procurement procedure and thirty-day challenge

Article 120 of the Italian Code of Administrative Procedure, replaced by Article 209 of Legislative Decree no. 36 of 31 March 2023 and effective from 1 July 2023, expressly addresses in-house awards. Paragraph 3 provides that, where the contract notice was not published, the application must be brought within thirty days of publication of the award notice or of the decision to proceed with an in-house award to the participated or controlled entity, provided the act states the reasons for that choice; where the notices are missing or do not comply, the application may in any event not be brought more than six months from the day following signature of the contract.

For a business the constraint is one of the calendar. The dispute follows the special procedure under Article 119(1)(a) of the Code of Administrative Procedure, which halves all ordinary procedural time limits save for the exceptions in paragraph 2. The Council of State had already held the procurement procedure applicable to in-house awards (Fifth Division, judgment of 29 May 2017 no. 2533; First Division, opinion of 30 March 2022 no. 687, which is an advisory act and not a ruling). Since the ANAC register of in-house awards ceased to operate on 1 July 2023, the target remains the statement of reasons required by Article 7(2) of Legislative Decree no. 36 of 2023.

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.