Public tenders and public contracts in Italy. The issues that large groups have to face when bidding/contracting with Italian awarding bodies

Giovanni Monteverde, Corporate Counsel, Alstom

Italian law on public procurement has recently undergone substantial modifications with the enactment of legislative decree 163 of 12 April 2006, as subsequently, in a typical Italian style, amended, lastly by means of legislative decree 113 of 31 July 2007. Decree 163 is referred to as "Codice dei contratti publici relativi a lavori, servizi, forniture" and represents an attempt to create an unique corpus, a Codex in fact, to rule any and all aspects of the public procurement in Italy, for works, services and supplies, both in the so-called ordinary sectors and in the so-called special sectors (energy, water, transportation and postal services, i.e. the sectors ruled by Directive 2004/17/CE). Unlike in the past, decree 163 (hereafter the Code) has not introduced specific modifications in specific areas. On the contrary it has created a united and homogeneous system, that came into existence upon impulse from the European Union (Directive 2004/17/CE and of Directive 2004/18/CE) and that has adapted the existing Italian rules to those coming from the EU. The Italian legislator has taken this opportunity also to cancel some obsolete or contradictory rules.

Read full paper Subscribe to the IICJ
Italy Contract Energy October 2008 Vol. 2, No. 5, Autumn 2008

Giovanni Monteverde

More

Giovanni Battista Monteverde, 41 years old, is in charge of the Legal Department of ALSTOM Transport Italy and of ALSTOM Italy since 2001. A law graduated from University of Genoa (1992), also got a LLM degree in European law from Queen Mary and Westfield College of London (1993). Qualified in Italy (1997) and England (2000). Started his career in 1994, working for FIAT. From 1998 to 2001 worked in private practice in London (Holman, Fenwick and Willan) advising on rail finance projects (Virgin West Coast Mainline) and various ship finance matters.

Alstom

More

Alstom is a French based industrial group, active in the Transportation and Energy infrastructures, present in 70 countries, with sales of around 17 billion euro and 76.000 employees. Alstom is present in Italy both with its Transport activities (ALSTOM Ferroviaria SpA) and Power activities (ALSTOM Power Italia SPA). In Italy ALSTOM employs more than 3.000 persons, with yearly sales of around 1 billion euro. Alstom Ferroviaria is a key player in equipment and services for rail transport in Italy. The Group has expanded, mainly by acquiring large companies, such as Sasib in 1998, and Fiat Ferroviara in 2000. The high speed Pendolino tilting trains are manufactured at Alstom’s Savigliano site. The Group has also supplied around 200 Minuetto regional trains to Trenitalia, the principal Italian rail operator. Many signalling contracts for Italian high speed lines have recently been entrusted to Alstom, and the Group is participating in the line 5 project finance for the Milan metro. Lastly, the Italian train operator Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV) has ordered from Alstom 25 of its brand new very high speed AGV trains for €650 million. The contract covers the maintenance of the trains for a 30 year period which is not included in this amount. It also foresees an option for a further 10 trains. In the field of power generation, Alstom Power Italia has signed several large contracts, for example for the turnkey supply of a cogeneration plant in Scandale (Calabria), and for a combined cycle plant in Gissi (Abruzzo). Alstom’s Italian site also participates in several export projects.

Italy Contract Energy October 2008 Vol. 2, No. 5, Autumn 2008